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LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 


PRINCETON, N. J. 


PURCHASED BY THE 
Mrs. ROBERT LENOX KENNEDY CHURCH HISTORY FUND. 


BR 960 a ho oe de Pn Melee 

Faris, John Thomson, 1871- 
Old churches and meeting 
houses in and around 





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OLD CHURCHES AND 
MEETING HOUSES IN AND 
AROUND PHILADELPHIA 


DR. FARIS’ POPULAR AMERICAN 
TRAVEL SERLES 


‘Dr. Faris has made Americans his debtors.”’ 
—Boston Transcript. 


The wonderland of America revealed in six volumes of 
travel de luxe, beautifully illustrated and handsomely 
bound, covering every section of the United States 
and Canada. 


SEEING CANADA 

SEEING THE MIDDLE WEST 
SEEING THE FAR WEST 
SEEING THE EASTERN STATES 
SEEING THE SUNNY SOUTH 
SEEING PENNSYLVANIA 


THE ROMANCE OF OLD PHILADELPHIA 
OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA 
THE VIRGIN ISLANDS 


Our New Possessions and the British Islands 
By TxHropoor DEeBooy and Joun T. Faris 


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EMMANUEL PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE 


tratton Holloway 





From the Painting by Edward 
































OLD CHURCHES AND 
MEETING HOUSES IN AND 
AROUND PHILADELPHIA 


BY 
JOHN T. FARIS 


AUTHOR OF 


“OLD ROADS OUT OF PHILADELPHIA’, “THE ROMANCE OF OLD 
PHILADELPHIA’, ““SEEING PENNSYLVANIA’, ETC. 





WITH FRONTISPIECE IN COLOR AND 
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PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
1926 


























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PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. 






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PREFACH 


HERE is persistent fascination in learning of the 

people of past centuries. We like to go to their 

haunts and try to reconstruct the life of their primi- 
tive day. So we make pilgrimages to the houses whose 
rooms echoed to the tread of other generations, as well as 
to public buildings where men and women were wont to 
gather for the discussion of their problems or to mingle 
in earnest fellowship. 

Of all the places hallowed by the presence of these 
people of other days none have such general attraction 
as the Churches and Meeting Houses where they wor- 
shipped. That attraction is felt not only by those who 
themselves find delight in worship, but as well by many 
who are not especially interested in religion. All can 
understand something of the feeling expressed DY a 
writer in The Atlantic Monthly: 

‘‘T like country churches, where He comes up to the 
very doors in grass and trees and sky, and then one enters 
and finds Him within, distilled by the walls of the little 
sanctuary into the most intimate of friends. Walls are 
strange things anyway. Built stoutly enough so that 
they last a long time, they enclose within themselves an 
atmosphere which takes on a dim personality. One is 
often conscious of this in old places, in old churches . . 
Often in old places it seems to me that if one rubbed the 
air hard enough one might make a thin spot through 
which all the happenings of that place might come 
rushing in.”’ 

This delight is, of course, greatest when the building 
in use to-day was standing when Washington marched by 
the doors with his devoted soldiers, or when Benjamin 
Franklin or even William Penn and his successors flour- 
ished. But the pleasure of the antiquarian persists even 

iii 


PREFACE 


though a modern building has displaced an earlier struc- 
ture. For frequently this is close to a burying ground 
where are the memorials of those who knew the old build- 
ings, or it is possible to learn delightful things about them 
—perhaps tales of courtship and marriage, of rivalry 
and quarrels, of peace, or of high adventure for Church 
and Country. 

Some years ago, when the author was preparing the 
book ‘‘Old Roads Out of Philadelphia,’’? he began to 
gather information about the Old Churches and Meeting 
Houses of Philadelphia and its neighborhood. The desire 
to put in permanent form some of the information secured 
was held in abeyance, partly because there was such 
wealth of material. 

Now that the book has been prepared, it has, of course, 
been found impossible to tell of all the institutions that 
have claim to a place among the Old Churches and Meet- 
ing Houses in and about Philadelphia. Limitation of 
space has made necessary the selection of typical organ- 
izations which dated to the years before the Revolution 
and, in this selection, interest for the general reader has 
been: one of the author’s guiding principles. 

The author has not been able to include Roman 
Catholic churches because the real growth of the Roman 
Catholic Church in America and information concerning 
it had not begun until after the Revolution. At the time of 
the Declaration of Independence there were but twenty 
thousand members of that communion on the Continent. 
While St. Joseph’s Church, Philadelphia, was established 
in 1745, and St. Mary’s Church, Philadelphia, had its 
beginning in 1763, but little is known of their early story. 
As a writer in The Philadelphia Sunday Mercury said in 
1863, when giving a review of the old churches: ‘‘ The 
local history of the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania 

iv 


PREFACE 





before the Revolution is difficult to obtain. There are no 
known records in existence.”’ 

In the preparation of this volume the author has had 
access to numerous documents and records preserved in 
the archives of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 
and of denominational historical societies. He makes 
acknowledgment of special indebtedness to Mr. Ernest 
Spofford, Assistant Librarian of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania; Professor J. R. Hayes, Librarian of 
Swarthmore College; Mr. W. W. Dewees and Mr. Simon 
J. Castner, of Philadelphia; Mrs. J. L. Schoonover, of 
Trenton, New Jersey; Rev. Charles P. Wiles, D.D., of 
Philadelphia; Rev. A. H. Hord, D.D., Registrar, Church 
House, Philadelphia; Rev. G. W. Hodge, D.D., President 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church’s Historical Society ; 
Rev. Louis F. Benson, D.D., of the Presbyterian Histor- 
ical Society of Philadelphia; Rev. Conrad A. Hauser, 
Ph.D., Philadelphia; Miss Jane B. Rushmore, Philadel- 
phia; Mr. Albert Cook Myers, Philadelphia; Rev. Frank 
G. Lewis, Librarian of the Baptist Historical Society, 
Chester, Pennsylvania; Rev. John Baer Stoudt, D.D., of 
Allentown, Pennsylvania; Mr. Horace Mather Lippincott, 
Biiadelphia as well as pastors who have made records 
available, and have given other assistance. | 

The Peontiapiecen is from a painting by Mr. Edward 
Stratton Holloway, which was made especially for 
this volume. 

JOHN T. FARIS 


PHILADELPHIA 
APRIL, 1926 


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CONTENTS 


I 


P 
TRYING DAYS AT OLD ST. PETER’S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL 


Ree Ee ELL IIE ELLA icheheree a sikinte sc led vies ive Malate plain a © Soe 


A Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Parallel. Society Hill Seeks a Church. An 
Impressive Array. Seats of the Mighty. Why the Church Service Was 
Changed. He Would Pray for the King. 


II 
GLIMPSES OF FRIENDS AND FRIENDS’ MEETINGS IN PHILA- 
DELPHIA...... Gat ea ieee otitis tha cake ¢ aia shen etnias 9 tsa Fitelen ates 


From Shackamaxon to the Boarded Meeting House. When Center Square 
Was Out of Town. What Rude Young Men Were Responsible for. Trying 
to Stop the Battle of Germantown. Protest against Slavery. The Mobbing 
of Lucretia Mott. John Penn’s Marital Misery. Why Governor Lloyd 
Visited Public Houses. 


Tit 
ST. MARY’S CHURCH, BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY............ 


From the Navy to Missionary in Burlington. Why the Horse Died. He 
Would Not Honor Queen Anne. The Parson’s Pun. A Bishop Who Was 
Not a Bishop. 


IV 
FOUR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES IN DELAWARE............. 


From New Amstel to New Castle, from Dutch to English. Records Which 
Turned Fugitive. Pencader, Delaware's Highest Seat. They Took Them- 
selves Seriously in Old Drawyers. A Down-town Lot Makes a Wilmington 
Church Rich. 


V 


THE BEGINNINGS OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
ALD WEDESBORO, NEW JERSEY 2. occa lsc ass vane ces as clecie 


The Neglected Swedes. A Promise That Was Not Kept. A Free School 
Ahead of Its Time. Saved by His Vestments. Revolutionary Trials. A 
Fascinating Building Record. Persuading Reluctant Givers. 


VI 
THREE OLD CHURCHES IN GERMANTOWN.... ............... 


The Paper-mill Mennonite Preacher. How Beggarstown Received Its Name. 
Christopher Saur, the Dunkard, and His Bible. The Gingerbread Baker of 
St. Michael’s Lutheran Church. He Would Not Be a War Profiteer. 


Vil 


THE TALE OF THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS IN 
RIPPER air ec hg hin hed cia meter eacap ater Mie Nana Rate 


A “Strowling Preacher” Imprisoned. How Baptists Helped the First Pres- 
byterian Church. An Auction Block for Slaves in Philadelphia. Benjamin 


Vil 


AGB 


16 


21 


29 


39 





CONTENTS 


Franklin Stands by the Preacher. ‘A Duck Pond in the Wilderness.” 
How Whitefield’s Outdoor Preaching Led to the Second Church. The Story 
of a Steeple. When Pine Street Church Saved the Colonies. Too Many 
Men in Church. 


Vill 


CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, BIRTHPLACE OF THE AMERI- 
CAN PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.................... 
“The Minister of the Doctrine of Devils.” The Man Who Had Pity on 
“Poor Philadelphia.’’ “The Philadelphia Steeple Lottery.’ Why Christ 
Church Chimes Rang for Captain Budden. Famous Men in the Pews; 
Famous Men in the Burying Ground. 


IX 


THE GLORIOUS BEGINNING OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN 
AMG Sarai vat cremate rt cede Ala’ katie aes GtRe ene a here or a Aen aoe ana 
Refugees Welcomed in Philadelphia. The Preacher Who Made His Living 
by “Being Generally Useful.” The Teacher Opposes the Farmer. A Curi- 
ous Book Title. “Hurrah for George Washington!’ A Hero of the Yellow 
Fever Epidemic. 


X 
HOW NORRITON CHURCH BECAME HISTORIC................. 


A Mennonite Helps the Presbyterians. When David Rittenhouse and Benja- 
Ale or Touched Norriton Church. Between Valley Forge and Phila- 
delphia. 


XI 
THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA............. 
How Elias Keach Tricked the Baptists of Pennypack. A Bitter Dispute 
in the Welsh Tract. When Thirteen Hundred Dollars Was Wealth. A 


Church in a Brewery. Benjamin Franklin and the “Electric Fires.” 
Should He Wear a Gown? 


XII 


THE BEGINNINGS OF FOUR PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL 
CHURCHES 0 oe aise sine ere leuitic wala cee Mina ar enema nes a ean 


Changing a Gravestone into a Church Building. St. Paul’s Church, Ches- 
ter, ““One of the Best Churches in the American Parts.” A Parsonage That 
Was a Reproach. Rivalry in Marcus Hook. The New Castle Rector Who 
Was “‘Baited to Death by Mosquitoes.” Contention as to the Location of 
“Old Swedes” in Christina. 


XIII 


AMONG THE FRIENDS NORTHEAST OF PHILADELPHIA....... 


At the Falls of Sauchickan. An Argument against Heat in the Buckingham 
Meeting House. Soldiers Share with the Friends. At Horsham and Abing- 
ton. Benjamin Lay’s Pokeberry Juice and Bladder Demonstration. Ralph 
Sandtford’s Suppressed Book. 


Vill 


Pacr 


62 


67 


76 


79 


91 


98 


CONTENTS 


XIV 


HOW MAIDENHEAD AND TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, WERE 
PMID a Lo hcak tree ae LCS Y SR eH Ths be to koe sR ere a wc 


A Pastor Who Escaped Conviction as a Horse Thief. Why Maidenhead 
Became Lawrenceville. “The Lottery of the Innocents’? at Trenton. A Price 
on the Head of the Rector of St. Michael’s Church. Did General Rahl Bring 
Fame to Trenton ? 


XV 


HOW THE MORAVIANS CAME TO HAVE A CHURCH IN PHILA- 
WOU RAE SALINE) Chote ide Oe ciate Win cas ule-iatare' 4d siteald qinyd whe'alvi gute ia elated lanes 


Count Zinzendorf and Stephen Benezet. Preaching in a Barn. Driven 
from the Pulpit. A Curious Church Building. Famous Men among the 
Moravians. Choosing a Wife by Lot. The Country Minister Who Strayed 
into the Theatre. Matchmaking at the Parsonage. The Solution of a 
Haunted House Mystery. From Church to Brewery. 


XVI 


GLORIA DEI, THE CHURCH BUILT BY THE SWEDES IN PHILA- 
PORCDSU ERD AN Us Sieeat thd gra Wd Gave thas Mf ease eth Winches ie Oe wala Avdwtnhal Gang ole wid 


Scalding Soap for Indian Attackers. When Ministers Seemed Like Angels. 
When the English Wondered at the Swedes. Why Gloria .Dei’s Porches 
Were Built. A Preacher Who Traded Horses. Catching a Fox by the Ears. 
A Problem in Wedding Dress. Contagious Marrying. The Church of 
Evangeline. 


XVII 
AMONG. THE NEW JERSEY FRIENDS: .. 2... ccc ccc een e ences 


From Bridlington to Burlington. A*Wedding Delays the Completion of a 
Meeting House. A Momentous Decision as to Gravestones. For the 
Privilege of Wearing the Hat in Court. ‘Hooped Pettycoats’’ and Bare 
Necks in Disfavor. The Warning against the “Steeple House.” Buying a 
House to Stop a Bellman. The Clerk Who Had No Wings. Why John 
Woolman Went to Europe in the Steerage. 


XVIII 


HOW GREAT VALLEY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH PASSED 
Serre ee. EL CEN EUR TES oe once wie cleid iat datedaty spiaatane eletets. Wield 


A Lot for “‘Descenting’’ Christians. Censured for Preaching. A Pioneer 


Picture. “Goats I Found You, and Goats I Leave You.” Why the Pastor 
Was Locked Out. Between Valley Forge and Paoli. 


XIX 


THE BRILLIANT CAREER OF ST. MICHAEL’S AND ZION 
Ree EEN AC ELUTE Es) 2 o's’ geaia 2 ach, ccooetintone aOR ane hea a ute ¢ Giz: aoa ats 
He Could Not Find a Church in Philadelphia. A Church in a Carpenter 
Shop. “We Told You Sol’ A Famous Spire That Brought Misfortune. 
A Change of Boasts. Saved from British Spoliation. Death to the German 
Language. Rich in Revolutionary Memories. Fire! In Memory of Frank- 
lin and Washington. 


ix 


Pacs 


105 


112 


119 


125 


131 


137 





CONTENTS 








XX 


FRIENDS FROM CHESTER TO WILMINGTON AND BIRMING- i 
Ls aii erential ALE STE aN oe Me MR Me RE Rate a 5 


When Benjamin Franklin, Francis Hopkinson, and Bishop White Helped 
in an Elopement. It Was Dangerous to Ford the Brandywine. A Friends’ 
Wedding. Young Men Who Did Not Speak to the Girls’ Parents First. 
Kicking Over the Traces. ‘“‘Tumult Without, but Great Peace Within.” 
Why the Friends Had to Remove a Dam in the Brandywine. Birmingham 
Meeting and the Battle of Brandywine. 


Paar 


XXI 


AT MIDDLETOWN AND FORKS OF BRANDYWINE............. 153 
The Patriots Broke Forty-five Panes of Glass. From Active Patriot to Mid- 
dletown Cemetery. Forks That Were Not Forks. Going to Church on 
Indian Trails. Famous Contributors to a Building Fund. ‘“Intreat Us 
Not to Leave You.” From the Pulpit to Valley Forge. 


XXII 
TEN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCHES................... 158 


FALCKNER SWAMP, LITTLE ZION, OLD GOSHENHOPPEN, RED HILL, TOHICKON, 
ZION (EAST PIKELAND), ST. PETER’S (WEST PIKELAND), ST. MATTHEW'S 
(BEDMINSTER), UPPER DUBLIN, ST. JOHN’S (CENTER SQUARE). 

A Land Agent Who Founded a Church. On Land Deeded by Richard Penn. 
“The Six-cornered Church.” Where Washington Visited Sick Soldiers. A 
Church with Many Nicknames. An Appeal for Half a Roof. Afier the 
Battle of Brandywine. 


XXIII 


TWO CENTURIES WITH THE MERION FRIENDS............... 164 


What Was the Date? Amid Primitive Surroundings. Helping Poorer 
Neighbors. Between Two Fires. Where William Penn Went to Meeting. 


XXIV 


TRAPPE, THE OLDEST LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA..... 168 
A Church Begun in a Barn. A Reprieve for a Relic. A Pastor Sought by 
the British. What the Militia Did to the Church. A Family of Patriots. 
“There Is a Time to Fight.” 


XXV 


NESHAMINY OF WARWICK, THE CHURCH OF THE LOG COL- 
Bes oops c's esas ove: chase’ a diplacalb bea Mba aS bts a te MD iat oo an cn 171 
A Minister and His Four Sons. Students among the Farmers. Whitefield 
Visits the “Academy.” Famous Graduates from the School in the Forest. 
The Ancestor of Princeton University? The Peddler Who Spoke Latin. 
Benjamin Franklin’s Advice to the Chaplains. The Tea Was Burned on 
Princeton’s Campus. 


XXVI 
INTIMATE GLIMPSES OF "GERMANTOWN MEETING........... 178 


Pastorius Makes Protest against Stealers of Men. Anthony Benezet and 
the Philadelphia Directory of To-day. Protest against “Smoaking Tobacco 
Too Publickly.” Ask the Girl’s Parents Parst. _ James Logan in Disfavor. 


x 





CONTENTS 


Pacn 


Defeated in Love, but Not a Good Sport. A Love Affair That Was More 
Fortunate. A Sulky Suitor. 


XXVII 
THE TWIN CHURCHES OF CHURCH ROAD..................... 185 


The Beginnings of St. Thomas’ Church, Whitemarsh, on ““Umbilicamence.” 
A New Use for Gravestones. Soldiers Take Turns in Possessing the Church 
Building. A Pastor’s Checkered Career. Striking Epitaphs. At the Other 
End of Church Road. An Honest Subscription Paper for Trinity Church, 
Oxford. An Economical Inscription. From Trinity Church, Oxford, to 
Trinity Church, Torresdale. 


XXVIII 


PUT HIMAN LOWN AND PRANKFORD 2 i. os ccs cle sicesit'y st ose ute 193 


A Capacious Church. A Union Effort That Failed. A Hessian Who Lost 
Heart. Story of the Market Square Presbyterian Church of Germantown. 
A Church for the Swiss, Which Became the First Presbyterian Church of 
Frankford. 


XXIX 
ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH, THE CRADLE OF AMERICAN METH- 
TRS eather asia nial: sites ce wets aie ie teh pial Relic athe ee o'ele a dines the 197 


Whitefield and the Birth of Methodism in America. A Beginning in a Sail 
Loft. In Prison for Building a Church. Was He So Weak-minded, After 
All? The Center of Methodism. Testing the Loyalty of the Preacher. 
Burning a Traitor in Effigy. Why the Bishop Did Not Marry. 


XXX 


Se OAata Va? SO CHLURGH ALI RAD NO ss 50 ya coals cies > plese sels 203 


An Old Petition. Building a Church'of the Pioneers. Not Enough Pews. 
Irreverent Thieves and Their Loot. He Broke His “Knepan” and Slept 
under a Tree. An Inconsolable Widower Quickly Consoled. Revolutionary 
Experiences. Longfellow and St. David’s. | 


XXXI 


Mami oWAY OPAL BAGG'S (MANOR. yu slilie ie aeaed wed siee ales scale 208 


On the Land of Letitia Penn. Famous Preachers at the Manor Meeting 
House. Pioneers in Education. Curious Cases of Discipline. Why Wil- 
liam and Mary Were Urged to “Drop All Claim upon Each Other.” A 
Woman Who Was a Paragon. 


XXXII 


FOUR SUBURBAN PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES....... 213 


“An Ill Accident” to the Records of St. John’s, Concord. A Record of St. 
John’s, Pequea, That Calls for a Long Breath. Bringing the Contributors 
to Time. He Stole the Church’s “‘Scanilins.” Thieves in St. James’, Per- 
kiomen. Washington’s Comment in the Burying Ground. Famous Patrons 
of St. James’, Bristol. 


XXXII 


THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE FREE QUAKERS............ 222 


Braving the Wrath of Fellow-quakers. A Brave Proclamation. Friends in 
Washington’s Army. Statement of Meeting. Liberty-lovers Form a New 


xl 





CONTENTS 


Pace 


Society. An Appeal for Rights Denied. A New Meeting House. The 
Reason for the Inscription. Famous Members Who Had Few Successors. 


XXXIV 
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THREE PROVINCIAL CHURCHES... 228 


So Busy He Had to Be Busier. On the Way to Church. The Beginning 
of Deep Run. From Deep Run to Doylestown. What the Pig Did. A Lot- 
tery for Newtown Church. 

XXXV 


THE STORMY BEGINNINGS OF ST. PAUL’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
PHILADELPHIA 


Put Out of Christ Church Pulpit. A Protest That Led to a New Church. 
A Building That Was a Marvel to All. He Called His People Rebels. A 
Loyal Church and Its Famous Pastors. 


- 


XXXVI 


THREE CHURCHES BETWEEN PHILADELPHIA AND THE FALLS 
OBR: THE: DELTA WARE Hoy Warn c) Cite wlecg teed ons Greens Vateaie as oly ats 238 


The Organization of Samony Church. A Large Parish and a Small Salary. 
A Vacation Which Was Not a Vacation. The Long Purse Called the New 
Preacher. Patriotic Service at Bensalem. A Serious Charge at Abington 
Church. Because He Preached in Connecticut, He Was a Vagrant. 


XXXVIT 


HOW ST. JAMES’, KINGSESSING, AND CHRIST CHURCH, UPPER 
MERION, BECAME EPISCOPAL ORGANIZATIONS............ 243 


From Upland to Kingsessing. Near the Home of Sheriff Coultas. Christ 
Church Came from Gunner Rambo’s House. The Transition from Lutheran 
Control. A Fitting Assignment. 





ILLUSTRATIONS 








FACING PAGE 


Otp SEconD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 1764..................Cover design 
From an old print 


BRANDYWINE MEETING HOUSE ...........cccec ee ceececs .. Lule vignette 


EMMANUEL ProTEsTANT Episcopan Caurcu, New CastLeE, DELAWARE ... 
From a painting by E.S. Holloway Frontispiece 


Sr. Perer’s Protestant Episcopan Cuurcu, PHILADELPHIA............. 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 


Sr, Perer’s Caurcu, PHILADELPHIA. ......ccececececs 
From an old sketch 


oer eee eee ew eeeeene 


STEPIORVON OG EL OThR S CHURCH Vo ihc e oerekrclck ce eee ee ee 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 


Frrenps’ Mretinc Houss AND ACADEMY.........-scccccecece 
From an old print 


Frienps’ Mreetrne Houses, Burtt mw 66 Days..... 
From a sketch by D. J. Kennedy 


Arcy Street Meretinc Houst, PHILADELPHIA ......... 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 


Sr. Mary’s Protestant Episcopan Cuaurcu, Bururinaton, N. J. 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 


Tue Outp Court Hovust at New CaAstie, DELAWARE 
Photograph by William C. Stevenson, Jr. 


sere ee @ oeoee eer eeerve 
* 


Tue Biock House at NAAMAN’s CREEK, DELAWARE ..... 
Photograph from Simon Castner 


First PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE ...... 


o 6 6 6 6\e 0 @ ¢ ¢ 


Trinity Protestant Eprscopat Cuurcu, SWEDESBORO, N.J....... 
Photograph from Rey. William Campbell 


DunkARD CHuRcH, GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA..... . 
Photograph by William C. Stevenson, Jr. 


MENNONITE CHURCH, GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA............ 
Photograph by William C. Stevenson, Jr. 


Sr. MicHarE.L’s LUTHERAN CHURCH, GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 


First PrResBYTERIAN CHURCH, WASHINGTON SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 


ee eee 


Tue Court Hovst ANp Seconp Frrienps’ Mertine Hovussz, ParwaApELPHIA 
From an old print! 


Society Hii, East Sipe or Fourts Street, PHILADELPHIA..... a 
From an old print 


oo 


Or 


Or 





ILLUSTRATIONS 








ArcH STREET WITH THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA... 49 
From an old print 


Turep PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA ..........cecccceee od agree: 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 

Curist PRoresTtANT EpiscopaL CHuRcH, PHILADELPHIA.............-- Rey + 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 

INTERIOR OF CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA .....c.cccccccevcccccecece OD 

NoRRITON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEAR PHILADELPHIA.......... Se tee 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 

Lower Dusuin Baptist CHURCH, NEAR PHILADELPHIA ............+.--- 84 
From an old print 

Tur Kerraran QuAKER Mrerine Hovusn, PHILADELPHIA................ 85 
From an old print 

Oup St. Pavu’s Protestant EpiscopaL CourcH, CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA... 92 
From an old print 

Sr. Pauy’s Protestant EpiscopaAL Cuourcu, CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA..... 93 
Photograph by J. E. Green 

EMMANUEL PROTESTANT EriscopaL Courcu, New Casrir, DELAWARE... 94 

Doorway or: EMMANUEL CRURCH soos. five vee web at eapeeueinaee BS 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 

Oxip SwepEs Protestant EpiscopaL Courcu, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE .. 965 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 

PrymoutH MErrtina Housk, NEAR PHILADELPHIA ........-eeccccccccceee 100 
Photographjby William C. Stevenson, Jr. 

InrERIOR OF PryMouTH MEETING HOUSE ..........cccccccccccccccccee 100 

Ture Oxtp ABINGTON Mretina Hous&, NEAR PHILADELPHIA ............. 101 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J..... ccc ccc ccc ccc cc cececes 106 

First PRESBYTERIAN CyurRcH, TRENTON, N.J......ccccccccccccnccccece 107 

Freat Moravian Cyorca, PHILADELPRIA . 2.4.6 diac ci cus ee bate ne as sien 


From an old print 


Guorra Der Protestant Episcopan CuHurcH, PHIADELPHIA............ 122 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 


“Tar SwepisHh CHuRcH, SOUTHWARK, WITH THE BUILDING OF THE FRIGATE, 
Piladel pea 5). ssl cece Oo A ee Lind ane Poe Sahel ae 123 
From an engraving by W. Birch and Son, 1800 


Frrenps’ Mrerine Houses, Sauem, N. J.......2. cece ec eee ca Oo ee 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 


Frrenps’ Meetina Houses, Burumerton, N. J.........-.22- eens ior i 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 
XIV 





ILLUSTRATIONS 








Great VALLEY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEAR PHILADELPHIA ............ 134 
Photograph from Rev. Arthur W. Spooner, D.D. 

Sr. Micwaty’s LutHeErRaAN Cuurcu, PHILADELPHIA..........c.eeceeeeeee 140 
From drawing by W. Birch and Son, 1800 

IntTeRIOR oF St. MicHAEL’s CHURCH...........020- en eee cee Lao 
From sketch by D. J. Kennedy 

Oxtp Zion LutHerRaAN CuurcH, PHILADELPHIA........... etre ate Mtatonahe tate hk ak 
From photograph by F. Gutekunst 

Frrenps’ Meeting Hovust, CHEsteR, PENNSYLVANIA ....... PRA Ly Si raatony th aah fT 
Photograph by William C. Stevenson, Jr. 

Kennett Mretine Housn, PENNSYLVANIA.......cccccccccccecccccccee 150 
Illustration from Mrs. J. D. Schoonover, Trenton, N. J. 

Concorp Frienps’ Mrretrina Housr, PENNSYLVANIA .........cceeeesee. 151 
Illustration from Mrs. J. D. Schoonover, Trenton, N. J. 

MIpDLETOWN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ELWyn, PENNSYLVANIA ....... eee SLOG 
Photograph from_Rev. W. T. Kruse 

Forks or BRANDYWINE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ......ccccecccccccce Spe Fil 4 
Photograph from Rey. Harry H. Kurtz 

PHILADELPHIA AND THE CHURCHES, FROM THE DELAWARE RIver ........ 160 
From an old engraving 

Merion Meetinc Hovust, NEAR PHILADELPHIA..... ete hm abet se ea LOG 

“Tar Oty Merion Stones Meetine Houses,” as Burtt 1n 1695 ........ 167 


From an old print 


Dr. MuHLENBERG’s LUTHERAN CHURCH AT TRAPPE, PENNSYLVANIA ...... 168 
Photograph by Simon Castner 


NESHAMINY OF WARWICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, HARTSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA 176 
Photograph by F. P. Powers 
Tut Loc CoutLecGE or Rev. WILLIAM TENNENT, NEAR HARTSVILLE, PENN- 
SYLVANIA eoeoteeeveereeeevee ee eevee eereeeeeveeeoesee eee ooo ere ere ere ee eevee 176 
From an old print 
Joon Fitcn’s STEAMBOAT ON THE DELAWARE River, Aprin 16, 1790..... 177 
From a drawing by D. J. Kennedy 
CovutterR STREET FrrenpDs’ Mreretinc Houssz, GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 178 
Photograph by Miss M. R. Scherer 
Trinity PRorestant Episcopan Cuurcu, Oxrorp, at Fox Cuasz, PEenn- 
SYLVANIA......... J bod olotaln c's eiGcare lb ik oe MISTS Wisse Ma pee ee IN ea Se letkas tLe 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 
“Ancient EpiscopaL Trinity Cuyurcu, Oxrorp, PENNSYLVANIA, Burit 


SMG RCOTYRT ONDE TLDS FH eagle lates a ete hae ARE Mc ee Math oe Oe BO 
From an old print 
XV 





ILLUSTRATIONS 








Market SQuaRE, GERMANTOWN, SHOWING THE ORIGINAL BUILDING OF 


THE MARKET SQUARE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH .......... ov | eee 
From an old print 


Sr. Grorce’s Meruopist Episcopan Cuurcu, PHILADELPHIA ............ 200 
From an old print 


St. Davip’s Protestant Eriscopan Cuurcu, RADNOR, PENNSYLVANIA.... 204 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 


GaTS AND) Wann Or. St. Davin’s CHURCH 2.5 6. co oc ba clae ee ones eo eee 
Photograph by; Prof. J. W. Harshberger 


Sr. Davip’s CHURCH IN WINTER....... Stelin le 15, Side! blip fa tifa ta oe etre arene eae 
Photograph by F. H. Shelton 


Sr. Jonn’s Protestant Episcopan Cuurcu, Concorp Townsuip, DsL- 
AWARE CouNTY, PENNSYLVANIA ....... PPE ne. Brteg ci 216 


Sr. JamEs’ Protestant Episcopan CHurcH, PERKIOMEN, PENNSYLVANIA .. 217 
From an old print 


Frizenps’ BANK MeErEtTING Hovussz, PHILADELPHIA............. PS Bg 224 
From an old print 

Tue Betsy Ross Pew in Curist CuourcH, PHILADELPHIA .......... Amr, (44: 

PRESBYTERIAN CHuRCcH, NEWTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA .......-.cecceeecees .. 230 


From photograph by Rev.jW. J. Bone 


Sr. Pauy’s Protestant EpiscopaL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA ............. 234 
Photograph by_Philip B. Wallace 


REFORMED CHURCH OF NORTH AND SOUTHAMPTON .......cecccceecceess 239 


St. JAMES’ Protestant EprscopaL Cuurcu, KINGSESSING, PHILADELPHIA... 244 
Photograph by William C. Stevenson, Jr. 


Waurrsy Haru, PoitADELPHIA, Now IN HAVERFORD, PENNSYLVANIA....... 244 
Photograph by Philip B. Wallace 


Curist Protestant Episcopan Cuurcu, Upper Merrion, SwEDESBURG, 


PYINNGYLIVANTAS© «cl uae ey cited aries 6g 6’ 6,6 sim 4g eikls 5 atk wren 
Photograph by William C. Stevenson, Jr. 


OLD CHURCHES AND 
MEETING HOUSES IN AND AROUND 
PHILADELPHIA 


1) 


TRYING DAYS AT OLD ST. PETER’S PROTESTANT 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 


A PHILADELPHIA AND PITTSBURGH PARALLEL. SOCIETY HILL 
SEEKS A CHURCH. AN IMPRESSIVE ARRAY. SEATS OF THE 
MIGHTY. WHY THE CHURCH SERVICE WAS CHANGED. HE 
WOULD PRAY FOR THE KING 


HERE is a curious parallel between Philadelphia 

and Pittsburgh in the location and provision for 

two of the most historic churches of these cities. 
In Philadelphia St. Peter’s Protestant Episcopal Church 
and the Third Presbyterian Church were built so close 
together that their spires, churchyards and time-worn 
walls are almost a part of one picture. More, they were 
built on ground given for the purpose by the Proprietors 
of Pennsylvania. In Pittsburgh the neighboring churches, 
the first to be organized in the city, are Trinity Protestant 
Hpiscopal Church and the First Presbyterian Church. 
These, located side by side on lots deeded for a nominal 
sum by John Penn, Proprietor of Pennsylvania, still min- 
ister to the down-town population of the city beyond 
the Alleghanies. 

The need for an Episcopal church in the Society Hill 
section of Philadelphia was first broached at a Vestry 
Meeting of Christ Church on March 19, 1753. Dr. Jenney, 
who was then rector of Christ CGhureh) was not at first 
favorable to the plea for a Chapel of Hase, but before 

+ l 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


long he yielded to the urging of those who desired a 
church nearer their homes. 

The first grant of land was on the west side of Third 
Street, but the lot was subsequently enlarged, until it took 
in all the ground on Pine Street from Third Street to 
Fourth Street. It was in the heart of the fashionable 
section of the city, which, at seventy years of age, con- 
tained about twenty thousand people. 

There were some four hundred subscribers to the 
building fund. Of these, William Plumstead, who was 
three times mayor of the city, was the first. 

Though the cornerstone was laid on September 22, 
1758, the building was not ready for occupancy until 1761. 
It was not then complete, but it hadaname. Ata Vestry 
Meeting of Christ Church on August 30 of that year,it was 
decided that the new church should be called St. Peter’s, 
that it should be under the same government as Christ, 
Church, and that the official name of the two congrega- 
tions should be ‘‘The United Congregations of Christ 
Church and St. Peter’s in the City of Philadelphia.’’ 

On Friday, September 4, 1761, the new church was set 
apart for Christian worship. Those who were to take 
part in the service marched from Christ Church, in im- 
pressive array. First came the clerk and the sexton, 
then the questmen, the vestrymen, the Governor and 
Church Warden, the clergy who were to officiate, the 
Governor’s Council and attendants, and the other clergy. 
The sermon, which was preached by Dr. William Smith, 
Provost of the Philadelphia Academy, after speaking of 
the dedication of Solomon’s temple, continued : 

‘*We, too, my brethren, have been building a house to 
the Lord, not a superb and magnificent one, fitted to the 
ostentatious worship of the Lord, but a house decently 
neat and elegantly plain, fitted to the simplicity of that 

Q 


TRYING DAYS AT OLD ST. PETER’S 


Gospel worship which must be performed in spirit and 
in truth.’’ 

The Building Committee was made up of Joseph 
Sims, Jr., Dr. John Kearsley, William Plumstead, Jacob 
Duché, Alexander Stedman, James Child, Evan Morgan, 
Redmond Conyngham, Attwood Shute, John Wilcocks, 
Samuel McCall, Jr., James Humphreys, and William 
Bingham. On March 5, 1763, the Committee reported 
that the work with which they had been charged was com- 
pleted, with the exception of the pulpit and the chancel. 
The cost was £4765. The document concluded with a 
statement that sounds most modern; the burden of raising 
the amount needed had been made heavier by the sudden 
rise in the cost of materials and labor, and the inability of 
some subscribers to meet their engagements. Not until 
1771 was it possible to announce that the debt incurred 
in building had been paid. For some time before this the 
rector, Dr. Richard Peters, had refused to receive a 
salary, that the amount subscribed for the purpose might 
go for the church debt. 

The first and best pew in the house was assigned to 
the Proprietor of the Province, who had given the lot, it 
being understood that this would be occupied by the Gov- 
ernor. This pew had exalted company a little later when 
used by George Washington, while Commander-in-Chief 
of the army, and during his term as President. The 
church has always been proud to number with these pew- 
holders three men who became ministers to Great Britain 
—Joseph R. Ingersoll, George M. Dallas, and John Welsh. 

Except for a few additions, the Church dedicated in 
1761 was the same as it is to-day. 

‘¢ The plain, austere interior of the old church, with 
its square, high-backed pews, remains unchanged, the 
only relic in Pennsylvania, and one of the very few in 

3 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


the country at large, of the Church in colonial days,’’ 
says one historian, speaking, of course, of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church. ‘‘It is the same church to which the 
Colonists in their knee-breeches and rich coats came to 
attend the first service.’’ 

Visitors to St. Peter’s have always commented on the 
unusual arrangement of the chancel in the eastern end 
of the church, and the pulpit and reading desk at the 
other. The standard history of The Prayer Book tells 
how this exception to the established rules led to a change 
in the book used in St. Peter’s. This exception was made 
because Bishop White did not wish to walk the length of 
the central aisle to read the Ante-Communion service and 
then walk back to preach the sermon. ° 

At first there was no spire—nothing but the belfry 
which contained the bells given to the new church by 
Christ Church. These were the bells which were removed 
from the city for safe-keeping during the time of British 
occupation. In 1778 they were once more in place. To- 
day one of these bells is in the chapel of Christ Church 
Hospital, while the other is at Christ Church Chapel. The 
graceful tower and steeple, forty-one feet high, so familar 
to Philadelphians to-day, was built in 1842, to accommo- 
date the chimes given by Benjamin Chew Wilcocks. 

The first organ was put in position in 1763. Its posi- 
tion was changed in 1789, and in 1855 a new organ was 
built. Unfortunately the organ case ‘‘partially obscures 
the architecturally fine east window, but in itself it is very 
pleasing, crowned as it is with a group of cherubim, two 
vessels of sacred fire, and the two angels—the Recording 
Angel carrying the Book, and the angel leading the chor- 
isters of the heavenly host.’’ 

Many who look at the reading desk in use to-day are 

4 





ST. PETER’S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 
Erected 1761 


ie 
3 


2 Ae wis 









Stews. 


i Ri ee ee a 
| em ree eS. 
eRe 





ST. PETERS PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 
Before the Erection of the Spire. 





INTERIOR 


OF ST. PETER’S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 


TRYING DAYS AT OLD ST. PETER’S 


reminded of the sad story of Dr. Jacob Duché’s lost oppor- 
tunity to win lasting fame in patriotic leadership during 
the days of the Revolution. He was Chaplain of the Con- 
gresses of 1774 and 1775, and for a brief time served as 
Chaplain of the Continental Congress in 1776. Like many 
other patriotic rectors, he substituted petitions for the 
struggling Colonies for the prayers for the royal family. 

But after a time he began to waver. A few weeks 
after his appointment as Chaplain of Congress, on July 
8, 1776, he resigned the office. And when, in 1777, the 
British occupied the city, he began to use once again the 
prayer for the King. More, he wrote to Washington a 
letter in which he urged him to put an end to the war. 

His change of front did not win the favor of the Brit- 
ish and it lost the favor of the patriots. By the British 
he was arrested for serving as Chaplain of the rebel 
Congress after the adoption of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. And when Washington was once more in 
possession of the city, Duché’s property was confiscated. 
For many years he was an exile in England, but he 
returned to Philadelphia before his death. Both he and 
Mrs. Duché were buried in St. Peter’s Churchyard. 

In protest against the treasonable action of Dr. Duché 
in praying for the King, patriotic members of the church 
retired. But when opportunity presented itself, they 
took the reins once more. Rey. William White, D.D., 
who was Dr. Duché’s assistant until he went to York as 
Chaplain of Congress, began his memorable service of 
more than half a century. Four years after the conclu- 
sion of peace he was consecrated Bishop, and on his 
return he preached his first sermon from the pulpit used 
by the officiating clergymen in the church to-day. One 
of his last acts was the consecration of the first Mission- 
ary Bishop in the American Church, on September 25, 

5 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


1835—Rev. Jackson Kempe, who went as Missionary 
Bishop to the Northwest. 

The church has been called ‘‘Mother of Bishops.’’ 
It is a remarkable fact that four of its rectors have been 
set apart to the office. 

One of the most famous of the rectors served before 
the day of American bishops. This was Rev. Richard 
Peters, D.D., who was, in 1735, assistant minister in 
Christ Church. Later he was a lawyer. As Secretary 
of the Province he was noted for his wise and useful con- 
ferences with the Indians. He was buried in the church- 
yard, before the days of the high brick walls which date 
from 1784. Among others whose bodies were placed in 
the sacred enclosure were William Bingham, George M. 
Dallas, Benjamin Chew, Nicholas Biddle, Charles J. 
Biddle, Alexander Wilcocks, Francis Gurney Smith, 
William Peters, Charles William Peale, Francis B. 
Stockton, and Stephen Decatur. 

Another member of the church who was buried in the 
yard was John Macpherson, Commander of the privateer 
Britannia, who took many prizes from the French when 
Kingland and France were at war, twenty years before the 
Revolution. After his retirement from the sea he bought 
an estate on the Schuylkill which is now a part of Fair- 
mount Park. The mansion he built—cealled at first 
‘*Clunie,’’ after his old home in Scotland, but later, and 
still known as ‘‘ Mount Pleasant’’—was spoken of in 1775 
by John Adams as ‘‘the most elegant seat in Pennsyl- 
vania.’’ In 1779 this was sold to Benedict Arnold, then 
Commander of the Continental forces in Philadelphia, 
who gave it as a wedding present to Margaret Shippen. 


II 


GLIMPSES OF FRIENDS AND FRIENDS’ 
MEETINGS IN PHILADELPHIA 


FROM SHACKAMAXON TO THE BOARDED MEETING HOUSE. WHEN 
CENTER SQUARE WAS OUT OF TOWN. WHAT RUDE YOUNG MEN 
WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR. TRYING TO STOP THE BATTLE OF 
GERMANTOWN. PROTEST AGAINST SLAVERY. THE MOBBING OF 
LUCRETIA MOTT. JOHN PENN’S MARITAL MISERY. WHY 
GOVERNOR LLOYD VISITED PUBLIC HOUSES 
T WAS fitting that the first Meeting of Friends in 
| Philadelphia should be in Shackamaxon, where, so 
tradition says, William Penn made the first treaty 
with the Indians that was a prophecy of all his dealings 
with the red men of the forest. This was in 1682. 

But Shackamaxon was out of the way. The conveni- 
ence of many Friends called for an authorized assembling 
place nearer the center of population on the Delaware. 

One of those who came to America with William Penn 
on the Welcome told of Philadelphia’s Quaker beginnings : 

‘‘Our first concern was to keep up and maintain our 
religious worship, and, in order thereto, we had several 
meetings in the houses of the inhabitants, and our boarded 
meeting-house was set up where the city was to be, near 
the Delaware; and, as we had nothing but love and good 
will in our hearts one to another, we had very comfortable 
meetings from time to time, and after our meetings 
we assisted one another in building little houses for 
our shelter.’ 

The ‘‘boarded meeting house’’ was the old Bank Meet- 
ing House close to the river, on Front Street, above 
Sassafras. This was planned for First Day afternoon 
meetings. Thomas Holme, Jr., John Songhurst, Thomas 
Wynne and Griffith Owen were chosen on January 9, 
1683, a committee to plan for this Meeting House. 

7 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


A supplementary brick building was erected in Center 
Square in 1685 or 1686, now occupied by City Hall. There 
were to be held the First Day morning meetings. But 
those who planned the Center Square building were 
doomed to disappointments they had made the fatal error 
of going too far from the center of population. The name 
given to the Square was a prophecy rather than a state- 
ment of fact; while it was only a mile from the primitive 
homes of the first settlers, it was in the midst of the forest, 
and so seemed to be much farther away. So before long 
Center Square was abandoned. 

In the meantime, in 1695, another Meeting House was 
built at the corner of Second and High Streets. This 
curious structure, called ‘‘the Great Meeting House,’’ 
Watson has described: 

‘‘Tt was Surmounted, in the center of the four-angled 
roof, by a raised frame, of glass-work, so constructed as 
to let light down on to the meeting below, after the man- 
ner of the frame Burlington Meeting-house.”’ 

This Meeting House yard was designated, in 1731, by 
Mayor Hassel, as the location for one of the town’s two 
fire engines, and a portion of the 250 leather buckets for 
fire fighters, that he might guard against a repetition of 
the ‘‘great fire’’ of 1730. 

A successor of this building was in use during the 
Revolution, as well as the Bank Meeting House, and the 
Pine Street Meeting. But the Bank Meeting House was 
given up not long after the Revolution. The reason for 
abandoning it was given quaintly by a Friend who said, 
that they were ‘‘constrained by their sense of not letting 
their good be evil spoken of, to dismiss the evening meet- 
ing because the young women (as at some other meetings 
almost ever since), were surrounded by rude young men, 
who assembled in long lines of idlers, generating and 


8 


FRIENDS’ MEETINGS IN PHILADELPHIA 


cherishing more evil without the walls than the good peo- 
ple could counterbalance within.’’ 

The building at Second and High (Market) Streets 
continued to be used until, in 1804, the transfer was made 
to the lot on Arch Street between Third and Fourth 
Streets, where there had been a Friends’ burying ground 
since 1690. In 1701 William Penn said of this tract that 
it was ‘‘for the use and behoof of the people called 
Quakers in Philadelphia with whom I am now in com- 
munion, and who are and shall be in fellowship with the 
Yearly Meeting of the said Friends in London, for a 
burying place.’’ 

Not until 1812 was the Meeting House on Twelfth 
Street, between Market and Chestnut, opened under the 
auspices of the Arch Street Meeting. 

The Meeting House on Arch Street was made very 
large, not only because of the Friends in the neigh- 
borhood, but because so many wished to attend the 
Monthly Meetings, the Quarterly Meetings, and the great 
Yearly Meetings. 

These Yearly Meetings of Friends have always been 
the central authority for all the local meetings in this 
district. Thus the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting was long 
the headquarters of all the other meetings in Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware, and parts of New Jersey, and even 
Maryland. In early days Philadelphians attended Yearly 
Meetings at Burlington, New Jersey, but later Philadel- 
phia became the center where all gathered. 

Historians relate an incident of the Yearly Meeting in 
session in Philadelphia, on October 4, 1777, when the 
Battle of Germantown was fought. The reading of a 
routine paper was interrupted by the sound of cannon. 
So there was a pause in the accustomed proceedings while 
a committee was appointed to deliver ‘‘the testimony of 

9 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


the Society’’ to the commanders of the contending armies. 
Warner Mifflin, Samuel Emlen, William Brown, Joshua 
Morris, James Thornton, and Nicholas Waln went to 
Howe’s headquarters. After delivering to him a copy of 
the testimony, they sought General Washington. To him 
also the testimony was delivered. Then the duty of the 
Friends was done. 

Most of the Philadelphia Friends were faithful to the 
Society’s testimony against war. But among those who 
protested was James Logan of Stenton who, in 1741, sent 
to the Yearly Meeting a letter in which, while admitting 
the unlawfulness of war, he urged that, since all govern- 
ment is founded on force, there are conditions when the 
force must be drilled and armed. He pointed out the 
fact that the duty of Friends was in part to those who 
did not believe as they did. He told them that they must 
remember that only one-third of the people of the city 
were Friends. He would not urge those who did not 
believe in war to do violence to their opinions, but he did 
plead that those who, for conscience’s sake, could not 
help protect the province, should refrain from becoming 
candidates for office. 

Thus he took a position to which the Friends, after 
many years, felt compelled to give agreement. But they 
were not ready for the action when Logan’s paper was 
read by the committee to which it was referred. It did 
not get beyond the committee, though one member of the 
committee hoped for other action. This was the mer- 
chant of Germantown, described as ‘‘a very Honest 
Dealer,’’ Robert Shettel, who was a member of the Phila- 
delphia Common Council, and, later, of the Provisional 
Council. In 1751 he was Mayor of Philadelphia. When 
the committee overruled him, he attempted to appeal to 
the meeting. But he was not permitted to speak; another 

10 





S MEETING HOUSE AND ACADEMY IN 1829 
Fourth Street below Chestnut, Philadelphia 





FRIEN 





FRIENDS’ MEETING HOUSE, CHERRY STREET ABOVE FOURTH, PHILADELPHIA 
‘ Built in 66 days in 1836 





ARCH STREET MEETING HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA 


Third and Arch Streets 





FRIENDS’ MEETINGS IN PHILADELPHIA 


committeeman, who sat by his side, pulled his coat-tail, 
as he said, ‘‘Sit thee down, Robert; thou art single in 
that opinion.”’ 

But while many of the Friends were unwilling to think 
of taking up arms for the province, they were by no means 
averse to offering real help in other ways in time of 
emergency. A Broadside, signed for the Friends by 
John Drinker in 1793, called attention to ‘‘the great sense 
entertained by a public body in the year 1774 of what was 
essential to public virtue and the national prosperity,’’ 
agreeing ‘‘to discountenance and discourage every spe- 
cies of extravagance and dissipation, especially all horse- 
racing, all kinds of gaming, cock-fighting, exhibitions of 
shews, plays, and other expensive diversions and enter- 
tainments, and to promote economy and industry in their 
several stations.”’ 

Logan ran counter once again to the teachings of the 
Friends in 1747. On this occasion his transgression was 
twofold; not only did he favor warlike measures, but he 
turned to the lottery to foster them. And the lottery 
was anathema to the Friends. In fact, they were at 
least a century ahead of general public opinion in their 
attitude on this question. As early as 1720 pronounce- 
ments were made with positiveness. On more than one 
occasion Philadelphia Friends who persisted in buying 
tickets in games of chance were deprived of their stand- 
ing in meeting. Yet when Benjamin Franklin became 
interested in a lottery whose proceeds were to be used to 
install a battery on the Delaware River for defensive 
purposes, Logan flew in the face of the tenets of the 
Friends, and joined with him. 

However much opinions may differ to-day as to cer- 
tain. convictions of the Friends, all will agree that lasting 
honor belongs to them because this most significant pro- 

il 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








test was on a matter vital to the country’s welfare. Theirs 
is the credit of making the first public pronouncement in 
America against slavery, or ‘‘the traffick of men’s body,’’ 
as they called it. This protest was made on April 18, 
1688—one hundred and seventy-five years before the 
Emancipation Proclamation. 

The historic protest—signed by Gerhard Hendrick, 
Dirck op den Graeff, Francis Daniel Pastorius, and Abra- 
ham op den Graeff, was read at the Monthly Meeting in 
Germantown. The language was positive: | 

‘‘There is a saying that we shall doe to all men licke 
as we will be done ourselves; making no difference of 
what generation, descent, or colour they are. And those 
who steal or robb men, and those who buy or purchase 
them, are they not all alicke? Here is liberty of Con- 
science, which is right and reasonable; there ought to 
be likewise liberty of ye body, except of evil doers, which 
is another case. In Europe there are many oppressed for 
Conscience sake; and here there are those oppressed 
which are of ablack colour . . . Have these Negroes 
not as much right to fight for their freedom as you have 
to keep them slaves?’’ 

This missive was sent to the Philadelphia Quarterly | 
Meeting. From there it went to Yearly Meeting at Bur- 
lington, New Jersey. But the Friends there were not 
ready to take positive action; it was decided that the 
meeting could not ‘‘give a positive judgment in the case, 
it having so general a relation to many other parts, and 
therefore, at present, they forebore it.’ 

In 1786, however, sentiment had progressed. Then the 
Yearly Meeting ‘‘advised that Friends be careful not to 
encourage the bringing in more negroes; and that such 
that have Negroes, be careful of them, bring them to meet- 
ings, have meetings with them in the families, and 
restrain them from loose and lewd living as much as in 

12 


FRIENDS’ MEETINGS IN PHILADELPHIA 


them lies and from rambling abroad on Feast-Days or 
at other times.’’ | 

Thus the way was being made ready for Lucretia 
Mott, the Quakeress from Boston, who came to Philadel- 
phia early in the nineteenth century. In 1833 she helped 
to reorganize in Philadelphia the American Anti-slavery 
Society. Five years later she assisted in the dedication 
of Pennsylvania Hall, a building dedicated to anti-slavery 
work. When this was burned by a mob, the house of 
Lucretia Mott and her husband, on Ninth Street above 
Race, was also threatened, but was saved by the quick- 
witted action of a man who led the mob elsewhere. 

As in meetings in other sections, the Friends in Phila- 
delphia were diligent in upholding the sanctity of mar- 
riage—which they felt involved, for them, marriage not 
only within the society, but with the sanction of the meet- 
ing. There was, among the leaders, earnest protest 
against any letting down of the bars. In 1725 John 
Woolman, after visiting Horsham Meeting, and seeing 
a wedding there, at which Governor William Keith was 
present, wrote: ; 

‘*J was concerned to speak of the end of that great 
ordinance, and of the happiness of those married persons 
who fulfil the covenants they make in marriage, and what 
strength and comfort the man is to the woman, and the 
woman to the man, when they keep the covenants, and 
that they are the contrary when they break them.’’ 

An instance of the sorrow consequent to a marriage 
between two Friends, entered into without sanction of the 
Philadelphia Meeting, was given in the case of John Penn, 
grandson of William Penn. When he was seventeen 
years old, he saw Maria Cox, the daughter of James Cox, 
silversmith, and at once decided that he wished to marry 
her. His subsequent calls at the Cox home displeased 

13 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


his father, Richard Penn. So the young people took the 
law into their own hands and eloped. But they were not 
to know happiness. The groom was smuggled off to 
Paris and there he was persuaded to agree to the divorce 
of his wife. But the deserted Maria followed him to 
Kurope, and they returned to America together. Then 
his wife disappeared. Later it was learned that she had 
been taken captive by the Indians, who were paid to keep 
her with them. Twelve years later, in 1766, the husband, 
then lLieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania, married 
again. But before the ending of his term of office he 
found his wife, just in time to see her die. 

One of the most insistent of those who taught the 
necessity for proper sanction for marriage between 
Friends was Thomas Chalkly, a celebrated Quaker 
preacher. He was also much disturbed because of the lax 
morality of Philadelphia. Once when he visited the city, 
he recorded, gratefully : 


‘‘Our Governor, Thomas Lloyd, some time in the even- 
ing, before he went to rest, used to go in person to public - 
houses, and order the people he found there to their own 
houses, till at length he was instrumental to promote 
better order, and did, in a great measure, suppress vice 
and immorality in the city.’’ 

Another celebrated man among the early Friends in 
Philadelphia was John Bartram, who attended the Darby 
Meeting—a meeting that dates from 1684. It is said that 
Linnaeus spoke of Bartram as ‘‘the greatest natural 
botanist in the world.’’ His Gardens, near the road to 
Darby, are to this day a proof of the correctness of the 
judgment of the great European botanist. 

One of the marked men at Philadelphia Meeting was 
Robert Proud, who came to America in 1758. He became 

14 


FRIENDS’ MEETINGS IN PHILADELPHIA 


a teacher in the Public Latin School founded by William 
Penn, in 1689, now the William Penn Charter School. 

A man known as ‘“‘The King of the Quakers’’ was 
Israel Pemberton, Jr., who became one of the founders of 
the Pennsylvania Hospital. During the Revolution he 
was sent to Virginia, because of his principles of non- 
resistance. Before his departure, when the British were 
in possession of Philadelphia, his wife’s coach was taken 
for the use of General Howe. When he died, in 1779, his 
funeral sermon was preached by Samuel Emlen, in the 
Great Meeting House on Market Street. It is recalled 
also that Samuel Emlen’s own funeral sermon was 
preached there on New Year’s Day, 1800. The speaker 
was Rebecca Jones. 

In the same Meeting House, in 1766, John Pemberton, 
brother of James, was married. A visitor from England 
sent home word of what seemed to him the most signifi- 
cant thing about the wedding: 

“‘On the day of his marriage, when most men are so 
taken up with their own happiness as to forget there is 


misery elsewhere, he ordered provisions to be sent to all 
the prisoners in Philadelphia.’’ 


on 


ST. MARY’S CHURCH, BURLINGTON 
NEW JERSEY 


FROM THE NAVY TO MISSIONARY IN BURLINGTON. WHY THE 
HORSE DIED. HE WOULD NOT HONOR QUEEN ANNE. THE 
PARSON’S PUN. A BISHOP WHO WAS NOT A BISHOP 


that an old sycamore still standing near the bank of 

the Delaware is the very tree to which the ship 
Shield was moored in the year 1678, when about to dis- 
charge its load of immigrants. These settlers, like those 
who came to Burlington in 1677, were Friends. 

Later settlers belonged to the Church of England, and 
they let it be known that they would like to see a minister 
of that church. This desire was not gratified until Octo- 
ber 29, 1702, when George Keith and John Talbot came 
from England to the Jersey town, traveling by way of 
Boston. Mr. Talbot had been a chaplain in the navy, but 
he said he wanted to exchange the service of the Admi- 
ralty for the harder service of the adventurous mission- 
ary. In his journal Keith described his first service in 
the town: 


Ts residents of Burlington, New Jersey, declare 


‘‘November 1, Sunday. We preached in the Town 
House at Burlington (the church not being built) and we 
had a good Auditory of diverse sorts, some of the Church, 
and some of the late Converts from Quakerism. Mr. 
Talbot preached before Noon and I in the afternoon. My 
text was John 17:3. Col. Hamilton, the Governieur of 
West Jersey, was present both Forenoon and Afternoon, 
and at his invitation we dined with him.’’ 


The traveling missionaries passed on immediately to 
other near-by fields, but Mr. Talbot returned in February, 
1703, and remained long enough to plan with the people 

16 


ST. MARY’S CHURCH, BURLINGTON 


for the new building for which they had collected two 
hundred pounds. On March 25, after preaching in a 
house hard by the Quaker Meeting, he ‘‘went out with the 
rest of the people, and laid the Corner Stone of Saint 
Mary’s Church.’’ Governor Nicholson was present on 
that occasion. 

Though the new building was ‘‘not quite covered and 
floored nor plastered, nor glazed,’’ it was used for a 
preaching service by Mr. Keith on August 22,1703. This 
opening service was preached ‘‘before my Lord Corn- 
burry,’’ the new Governor of the Province. In response 
to a petition of the members the Bishop of London 
appointed Mr. Talbot rector of the new church. He 
began his ministry in November, 1705, on the petition of 
the people to the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- 
pel, in London. But the appointment to St. Mary’s did not 
relieve him of his duties as a general missionary. At 
least half of his time he spent on his horse, going to 
other fields. 

Once his horse died. ‘‘Ye Quakers recorded that this 
was a judgment upon me,’’ the missionary wrote. 

There is a curious inconsistency as to the name of the 
historic church. It is evident from official documents 
that it was at first St. Anne’s Church. On October 4, 
1704, Lord Cornbury called it by that name. As already 
noted, Dr. Talbot, at the time of the cornerstone laying, 
called it St. Mary’s. One of the parish registers has 
inside the cover ‘‘St. Anne’s’’ but on the outside of the 
book the name St. Mary’s appears. Various wills left 
legacies to St. Anne’s Church. 

In explanation of the double name, it has been sug- 
gested that when the church was begun he ealled it St. 
Mary’s, ‘‘being doubtless unwilling to participate in the 
ceremonies of a corner stone laying which would establish 


gz 17 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ge ee ae ec 
the name of even Queen Anne, who was then filling the 
throne of the rightful, but exiled, Stuart.’’ 

When Queen Anne died, and King George I came to 
the throne, all who held office were required to take oath 
of allegiance afresh. Talbot refused. So he was charged 
by Governor Hunter with being a Jacobite. From HEng- 
land came the request for an explanation. His reply was 
a pun on the name of his accuser: ‘‘God has been my 
succour, and I doubt not but he will deliver me from the 
snare of the Hunter.’’ 

Later he visited England, in the interest of the plea 
of the Colonies for a Suffragan Bishop of their own. 
While in England, most unexpectedly, he was himself 
consecrated Bishop, but this was not done according to 
the requirements of the Church of England, for the cere- 
mony was not participated in by the civil power. More- 
over, he was consecrated by but two Bishops, whereas 
the law called for the union of three Bishops to make a 
Bishop. Worst of all, one of the Bishops who consecrated 
him was first made a Bishop by the other. 

For this reason there was bitter controversy as to 
the validity of the consecration. He was called a non- 
juring Bishop. In July, 1724, Governor William Keith 
wrote to the Bishop of London questioning the acts of 
such non-juring clergymen pretending to the authority 
of Bishops in the Church. In 1726 Mr. Talbot was dis- 
charged by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. 
His successor soon came from England. 

In St. Mary’s Church there is a memorial tablet to 
him, their first rector and the first Bishop of the Church in 
America. A feature of this memorial is the signet of 
Bishop Talbot—a mitre, with flowing ribbons, and be- 
neath his name, John Talbot. The explanation is given: 
‘*Harly fac simile of the seal of John Talbot, Founder of 

18 





ST. MARY'S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY 





ST. MARY’S CHURCH, BURLINGTON 


this church, 1703. A Bishop of Non-juror Consecra- 
tion, 1722.’? 

The story of the Parish, prepared by the local St. 
Elizabeth’s Guild in 1915, says: 

‘“‘The old church was built of brick, and has been 
many times enlarged. ‘The original side walls still stand 
and the east end wall, though the apse is new. The first 
building reached about to where the tablets are west of 
the door of the present Parish School Room. In 1769 the 
Church was extended to the present west front. In both 
buildings there was a ‘fair gallery westward.’ In its 
later days the clerk’s desk was in this gallery in front of 
the organ, doors opened in the middle of the sides, the 
font stood by the north door. In each corner, by the 
chancel, was a large, square pew. The one to the north 
was the Governor’s, with canopy and curtains.”’ 


In 1810 and 1834 the building was enlarged, and in 
1854 the new church was built. Since 1875 the old church 
has been used as a Sunday School room and parish build- 
ing. Many of the windows in this building still have the 
original leaded glass windows given by Queen Anne in 
1708. She also gave a silver service and a brocade altar 
cloth which are kept among the treasures of the church. 

Burlington was a center of colonial life during the 
Revolution. The Provisional Assembly met here, and 
soldiers of both armies were seen on the streets. Wash- 
ington, as well as anumber of his officers, attended service 
in the old church at one time or another during the war. 

Among the famous men who, in the early years, were 
attendants at Saint Mary’s, were Elias Boudinot, Cap- 
tain James Lawrence, who will always be remembered 
by Americans because of his famous message to his crew, 
‘‘Don’t give up the ship,’’ and James Fenimore Cooper. 

The northern portion of the churchyard dates from 
1695, when ‘‘several persons inhabitants in and about 

19 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


Burlington’’ bought a piece of ground ‘‘for the Conveni- 
ency of a burying place for themselves and also for all 
other Christian People who shall hereafter be minded 
therein to bury their dead.’’ 

Additions were made in 1702 ‘‘for the enlarging of 
that or those parcells of Land ffenced in for Christian 
Burying ground and also for Erecting a Church and other 
buildings as occasion may serve for Charitable uses.’’ 

One of the oldest gravestones marks the grave of a 
man who was named as a church warden in the royal 
Charter of Queen Anne, dated January 25, 1709. ‘The 
inscription reads: 

Here 
Lyeth The 
Body of Geor 
ge Willis 
who Departed 


this life 
August ye 7th 
1713 


Age 67 years 


IV 


FOUR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 
IN DELAWARE 


FROM NEW AMSTEL TO NEW CASTLE, FROM DUTCH TO ENGLISH. 
RECORDS WHICH TURNED FUGITIVE. PENCADER, DELAWARE ’S 
HIGHEST SEAT. THEY TOOK THEMSELVES SERIOUSLY IN OLD 
DRAWYERS. A DOWN-TOWN LOT MAKES A WILMINGTON CHURCH 
RICH 


Castle, Delaware, was the Dutch Reformed Church 

of New Amstel, organized by the Dutch in 1657 or 
1658. ‘That church continued its existence when the 
Swedes drove out the Dutch, and when the English suc- 
ceeded both in 1664. One of the stipulations of the oath 
of allegiance to the British Crown, taken by the inhabit- 
ants after the conquest, was ‘‘that the people be left free 
as to their liberty of converse in church and family.’’ 
The greatest change was the renaming of New Amstel 
as New Castle. 

In 1683, in a letter sent by William Penn to the Com- 
mittee to the Society of Free Traders in London, he spoke 
of the Dutch Church in New Castle. 

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 led 
many Huguenots to leave France for a new home in 
America. Some of them found their way to Delaware, 
and to the bounds of the old Dutch Reformed Church. 
The members of that organization welcomed the men and 
women of kindred faith, and all worshiped together in 
‘‘the small wooden church’’ on Sandhook. 

At first it was not difficult to live and work together, 
for those who had been in the church for some time and 
those who had just arrived there were much alike in 
both doctrine and church government, and they were 

21 


[ess ancestor of the Presbyterian Church of New 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


also united by the knowledge that both had suffered for 
the sake of religion. 

Gradually, however, the Dutch element gave way 
before the English. The demand was for services in 
the language of the majority. The transition, therefore, 
from Dutch Reformed to Presbyterian was easy. The 
date of organization is not known. Some say it was as 
early as 1685. But it is certain that in 1703 the church 
had a full staff of officers. 

An interesting reference to the church was made in 
1703, when Rev. John Talbot, once rector of St. Mary’s 
Church, Burlington, New Jersey, said that, though there 
was no church building in New Castle, a Presbyterian 
minister preached to the people in the court house. 

The lot on which the building for the Presbyterian 
congregation was constructed was bought for £22 from 
John Brewster and Thomas Janvier. Mr. Janvier, one 
of the Huguenots, was the ancestor of the family of that 
name which has been so prominent in Delaware and Penn- 
sylvania. Here a building was erected, which had to 
be enlarged in 1712. The pastor at that time was also in 
charge of Apoquinimy Church, later called Drawyers. 

It is a pity that it is impossible to tell the stirring 
events within the bounds of the New Castle church during 
the days of the Revolution. But the records are lost, 
as was explained quaintly in an official book: — 


‘“‘The troublous times, woe and distress, which took 
place both in Church and State, afterwards greatly 
deranged all affairs, civil and religious, for many years, 
and the enemy marching through the bounds, occasioned 
the loss of old records, and many of the remaining min- 
utes of that distressing day are dropped aside, or turned 
fugitive, with the enemy, and disappeared; so that it is 
doubtful whether any of them that are lost or fled will 
ever be recovered or found.”’ 

29 


FOUR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 


Yet it is known that the entire church took a prominent 
part in the affairs of the nation during the seven years 
of struggle. In October, 1777, the pastor took his place as 
chaplain in the patriot army, and rendered signal service. 
And after the war he became a member of Congress. 

Among the famous names in the church were those of 
Kensey Johns, Nicholas Van Dyke, and Dr. James 
Couper. <A list of members in the early days is a veri- 
table roll call of colonial worthies. 

Not until 1854 was the old church building replaced 
by the structure used by the congregation to-day. 

On a road leading out of New Castle, which became 
later the New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike, and at 
the village now known as Glasgow, a Presbyterian church 
was built probably as early as 1706, on the Welsh Tract. 
This tract was granted by William Penn, in 1701, to three 
men, of whom two, David Evans and William Davies, 
were Presbyterians. The settlement of the tract was 
so rapid that before the close of 1702 eleven thousand 
acres had been taken up by men who came from Great 
Valley in Pennsylvania. The church became known as 
Pencader, a Welsh term meaning ‘‘the highest seat.’’ 

The building occupied for many years was a small 
frame structure, low pitched, one story, with sharp 
peaked roof. It is still standing, and is used as a resi- 
dence. In this building a boy, Samuel Davies, was 
received into membership in the church, probably in 1736. 

Young Davies was born on a farm near the church, 
the son of William Davies, one of the original owners of 
the Welsh Tract. With him on the farm was a lad named 
John Campbell. The following story is told of the 
two boys: 

‘‘The father would send the lads to work, and, there 
not being sufficient work done, the father determined to 

23 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


QQQ0“0V7—~7—X———eee—— 


watch. He found them each witha book. Young Davies 
was instructing Campbell. The teacher was twelve years 
younger than the pupil. Mr. Davies complained to Mrs. 
Davies that they would never make farmers. But the 
mother was not disturbed, for she had other views for her 
boy. She said that if he would not make a farmer he 
might make a scholar. So he was sent to school.”’ 


A few years later Samuel Davies became President of © 
the College of New Jersey (Princeton University), while 
his former pupil became Rev. John Campbell, a faithful 
preacher of pioneer days. . 

Fortunately a few records of the days of the Revolu- 
tion have been preserved. In August, 1777, just before 
the Battle of Brandywine, Knyphausen and Agnew landed 
from a ship on Chesapeake Bay, then marched through 
Aikentown (Glasgow). On September 3, ‘‘the British 
line extended from Aikentown to a point some distance 
northwest of the Baptist church on Iron Hill.’’ This was 
the day when the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge was fought, 
the first battle fought by American forces under the 
recently adopted Stars and Stripes. That night the old 
church was occupied by the troops of Captain John 
Crawford, who had marched from Middletown, to join 
the American forces. This he had not been able to do, be- 
cause of the manner of disposition of the opposing armies. 

During the following winter Abraham Short, member 
of Pencader, was with Washington at Valley Forge. 
After the war, when he was advised to apply for a pen- 
sion, he said that he didn’t serve his country for money, 
then brought all his papers together and threw them into 
the fire. 

Mr. Short was a connection by marriage with the 
family descended from James Crawford, who had come to 
Delaware in 1664. One of this original Crawford’s 

24; 





THE OLD COURT HOUSE AT NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE, IN USE SINCE 1672 
Where the First Church Services in Delaware Were Held 


“ 





THE BLOCK HOUSE AT NAAMAN’S CREEK, DELAWARE 
Built by the Swedes in 1654 


OFLT Pool 
GUVMVIGd “NOLONINTIIM ‘HOUNHO NVINALAMSAUd LSU 





FOUR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 


granddaughters married a Porter, and so became the 
aunt of Commodore Porter, the Commander of the Hssex 
in the War of 1812, who was born in Boston, but spent his 
boyhood on a farm within the bounds of Pencader parish. 

The structure which had served so well for more than 
seventy years was replaced in 1783 by a building for 
which the bricks were burned on the farm of Jacob Faris, 
one of the trustees. This building had a brick floor and 
high pews. ‘The pulpit was near the entry, with a sound- 
ing board above it. Beneath the feet of those who used 
each pew was a plank, laid on the brick, to protect the 
feet from the cold floor. There were no chimneys, for 
no one thought of warming a meeting house in those 
days. When, many years later, some daring spirits 
talked of introducing heat, there was almost a split in 
the congregation. 

The brick building served Pencader Church until 1852, 
when the present structure was placed on part of the 
old burying ground where, beneath the great trees, many 
generations of men, women and children have found 
resting-places. ) 

Nearly as old as Pencader Church is the Presbyterian 
ehurch long known as Apoquinimy, now called Drawyers, 
located near Odessa, in New Castle County, Delaware. 
The modern name was given by the creek whose three 
branches flow through the parish. It has still a third 
name, for the corporate title is ‘‘The First Presbyterian 
Church in St. George’s Hundred.’’ 

The early church was quite a composite organization. 
There were Swedes; names like Petersson, Andriesson, 
and Piper tell of these. There were Dutch, like the 
Vandegrifts, the Van Zandts, and the Van Dykes. Nich- 
olas Van Dyke, born in the congregation, became Gov- 
ernor of Delaware in 1783, while his son Nicholas became 

20 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


United States Senator. There were also French Hugue- 
nots like the Janviers, the Naudains, the Durhams, the 
Lafarges, the Lerrouxs, and the Vigarues. Finally, there 
were Irish, Scotch and English. 

Although there is record that the Presbytery of Phila- 
delphia sent a minister much earlier from New Castle to 
preach on Drawyer’s Creek ‘‘once a month on a week 
day,’’ the first building was not erected until 1711. 

In the days when this building was occupied, the offi- 
cers and members took themselves with becoming seri- 
ousness. An example of this was given in 1732, when the 
Session appointed Hans Hanson, John Burgess, Garrett 
Durham, and Elias Naudain a Committee ‘‘to Regulate 
and Lay out ye seats in Appoquinimy Meeting House.’’ 
Later, when there was a dispute as to a certain sitting: 


‘<The Session got Hans Hanson and Garrett Durham 
to appear before them to Declare to ye best of their knowl- 
edge yt when John Burgess, Elias Naudain and they were 
in Communion together yt they did agree if any person 
yt had a Seat Laid, out for him should keep it as long as 
they or theirs Stayed in ye place and Remain as members 
of yt Meeting and uphold ye Subscription they had then 
subscribed to be paid to ye Minister, in ye original list of 
Mr. Hook. Reference being thereunto had, may now in 
Large appear, but in case they or theirs leave the Meeting 
House by turning to Another persuasion, or by leaving ye 
place altogether, he or they Shall not have Liberty to sell 
or convey their seat to any other person whatsoever, but 
it shall Return to the Benefit of ye Said Meeting House to 
be disposed of as ye Representatives of ye Meeting House 
shall then see fit, and that if any person die and leave no 
person yt will uphold their subscription, yt it shall always 
Ly in ye power of the Session to do with yt seat as 
they in their Discretion shall think Best, and further 
sayeth not. 

‘Now know ye that the present session with ye appro- 
bation of ye aforesaid person, having well considered 

26 


FOUR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 


your Justice and Benefit, and Reasonableness of the 
above said agreement about ye Seats do Establish it to 
Remain so, only with this addition that if any person Dies 
and Leaves a child or Children yt ye Deceased person’s 
Seat shall not be given to another while they are under 
age, but it may be Rented out to any till ye eldest child 
of ye Deceased person comes to age. Let it be Male or 
Female, as ye Session shall think to be ye proper Heir, 
and when they Come to age, they shall have ye Refusal of 
ye Seat and if they will uphold their father’s Subscrip- 
tion, they shall have ye Seat, but if they will not, then it 
shall Lay in ye power of ye Session to do with it as they 
in their Discretion shall think best.’’ 

The building erected in 1711 served until the delightful 
colonial church occupied by the congregation to-day was 
built in 1773. This brick church, with its graceful door- 
way, its many-paned, circular-topped, white-shuttered 
windows, its heavy cornices, its ivy-covered walls, has 
dignified place beneath the trees, amid the impressive 
ranks of gravestones that tell of the passing of genera- 
tions of sturdy pioneers. 

One of the most famous members of the church was 
Captain Kirkwood, who has been called the most noted 
of Delaware’s soldiers during the Revolution. And that 
says a good deal, when it is recalled that the little state 
sent five thousand men to the front, and that but one in 
a hundred returned to his home. The Captain was with a 
regiment which was mustered at Dover before the Decla- 
ration of Independence was signed. The regiment was 
at the Battle of Trenton, December 25, 1776, and on Jan- 
uary 3, 1777, it was at the Battle of Princeton. Captain 
Kirkwood was in thirty-two battles during the Revolution. 

One of the members of Drawyers who stayed at home 
while men were at the front was a Mrs. Stanley. But she, 
too, had her experience of being under fire. A twelve- 

Q7 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES > 


inch shot from the British ship Roebuck passed through 
the chimney of her home. 

Commodore Thomas Brown, a son of the church, and 
grandson of Peter Chevalier, Huguenot, was at the siege 
of Tripoli, and during the War of 1812 he was a Com- 
mander on Lake Ontario. 

Two miles from the birthplace of Commodore Brown 
was born Commodore McDonough, victor over the British 
in the Battle of Plattsburg, in the same war. 

Thomas McKean, Governor of Pennsylvania, once 
lived within the bounds of the congregation, and was a 
member of the building committee that secured funds 
for the church occupied to-day. 

Drawyers Church was full grown before Wilmington, 
or Willington, as it was called, had a Presbyterian church. 
In: 1737 steps were taken to organize the First Church 
there, but it was 1740 before a building was erected. This 
stood until a few years ago on: the corner adjacent to the 
Dupont Hotel, and was removed to make way for the 
City Library. It was taken down carefully, and was 
set up again just as carefully, on the banks of the Brandy- 
wine, by the Colonial Dames. Ona portion of the lot the 
First—Central Church has its modern building. 


Vv 


THE BEGINNINGS OF THE PROTESTANT 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT SWEDESBORO 
NEW JERSEY 
THE NEGLECTED SWEDES, A PROMISE THAT WAS NOT KEPT. 
A FREE SCHOOL AHEAD OF ITS TIME, SAVED BY HIS VEST- 
MENTS. REVOLUTIONARY TRIALS. A FASCINATING BUILDING 

RECORD, PERSUADING RELUCTANT GIVERS 


“HN THE settlement of America the romance of his- 
tory has been thrown around all of the Colonies 
with the single exception of that made by the 

Swedes. In 1607, a band of hopeful adventurers went to 
Jamestown from the mother country. They were fol- 
lowed by the Dutch at New Amsterdam and the Pilgrims 
at Plymouth. The Swedes came only a few years later, 
but historians as a rule pass over the early efforts of 
these sturdy sons of the Vikings, and in a very few lines 
tell of their having come here. And in all these stories 
one fails to learn that one of the boundary lines of the 
early settlement reached Naraticon’s Kil, which was so 
called by the Indians, paraphrased by the Swedes to Ara- 
ratcung, or Ratcung, and finally Racoon, and usually 
written Racuun.’’ 

So Rev. Edgar Campbell, rector of ancient Trinity 
Protestant Episcopal Church of Swedesboro, New Jersey, 
began his admirable story of the organization and his- 
tory of that historic church. The facts in this chapter 
come from him, and are frequently given in his own 
‘words, as those of one who has searched records care- 
fully and has put together extracts from them with 
unusual skill. 

For many years there was a close relation between the 
churches at Christina, Delaware, and those on Racoon 


29 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


Creek. The people from New Jersey went to Christina, 
to service, while the minister from Christina frequently 
went to the New Jersey settlement to hold services. The 
people ‘‘on the other side of the river’’ are often men- 
tioned in the records of the Christina church. 

The distance across the river was long, and the danger 
at times great, and so the people at Racoon determined to 
have a church building of their own. They had subscribed 
to the building of Christina church with the understand- 
ing that when they came to build a church for themselves 
they were to be helped in turn by the Christina people. 
Not only was this not done, but the work was opposed. 
The entry of May 1, 1702, says: 


‘‘Part of my congregation on the other side of the 
river, Jersey side so-called, are minded to break off from 
me and the Church on this side, taking a minister for 
themselves and uniting with them on the other side of 
Rattcong creek.’’ 

The plot of ground on which a log church was built 
was bought in 1703, and the building was consecrated in 
1705. Unfortunately the first clergyman, Rev. Lars 
Tolstadius, remained in charge less than a year; he was 
drowned in the Delaware in 1706. 

During the early days the most notable man who 
helped in the work of the church was Peter Kalm, a pro- 
fessor in the University of Abo, Finland, who made a 
botanical pilgrimage to America. 

Another memorable event of the early days was the 
purchase, in 1732, of the communion service of beaten 
silver, which is still in use. 

It was a pastor of the church, Rev. John Maksell, who 
first had the vision of a town on the banks of Racoon 
Creek. Among the things he did for the community in 
early days was the building of a rectory in 1765, as well 

30 


EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT SWEDESBORO 


as of a schoolhouse. In the lease for the ground he indi- 
cated that the institution was to be for ‘‘free schooling.”’ 
The plot of ground bought in 1771 for the use of the school 
is still used for a purpose akin to that of which the rector 
dreamed when he was so far ahead of his times. 

The rector during the days of the Revolution was Rev. 
Nicholas Collins, D.D., who, like his predecessor,came from 
Sweden. With marked devotion he remained during the 
days of war, guiding the Swedes, and helping them in 
duty to country as well as to God. He officiated at the 
funeral of Hester, wife of Captain Samuel Williams, who 
died on October 16, 1777. Three days later, during the 
service at the grave, General Cornwallis marched by on 
his way to the battle of Red Bank. When he saw the 
Swedish parson officiating in the churchyard, wearing 
vestments like those of the clergy of the Church of 
England, he gave orders that the man must not be 
molested. At least that is the story long current in 
the neighborhood. 

The church records tell of the ‘‘battle’’ of Swedesboro, 
an incident unrecorded in most histories: 

‘‘The year 1778: The usual vestry Meeting on the 3d 
day of Haster could not be observed, because of the gen- 
eral distraction produced by the war. Militia and con- 
tinental troops on one side, and refugees with British on 
the other, were frequently skirmishing, and both allmost 
equally destroying the country, Plundering, Marauding, 
imprisoning, and burning houses, with other horrid ex- 
cesses, were frequent from the beginning of spring, til 
July, when the British Army evacuated Philadelphia. In 
the morning of Haster Sunday, a man who had traded 
with the British was tied to a tree near the burying 
ground, and cruelly whipped. He died after a hard time. 
On the 4th day of April some hundred of English horse- 
men and refugees came to Sweedsburgh early in the 

31 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


morning to surprise the militia. Being disappointed they 
burnt the Schoolhouse, alledging for a reason that some 
loyal subjects had been imprisoned there for some 
weeks before.”’ 


The churchyard contains the graves of men who 
served in the Revolution, like Colonel Robert Brown, 
Colonel Bodo Otto, Colonel Thomas Heston, Captain 
John Daniels, and Dr. Henry Land. 

A year after the conclusion of peace Rector Collins, 
who preferred to stay with his people rather than to go 
home to Sweden, where he would have been given pre- 
ferment because of his hard service in America, per- 
suaded the church to build the house that is in use to-day. 
The story of the building as told by Mr. Campbell from 
the records is fascinating and complete. 


‘‘ After having for several months urged the necessity 
of the enterprise, both in private conversation and public 
addresses from the pulpit, I ventured to begin the sub- 
scription, and had the satisfaction to find about one thou- 
sand pounds subscribed within a few weeks. Upon this 
the managers ventured to proceed. In the autumn of the 
year 1783 a contract was made with Mr. Felix Fisler for 
the necessary quantity of bricks, to be made and deliv- 
ered at the rate of one pound seventeen shil.6d per thou- 
sand. [$9.371 in our money, or about $18.50 in the present 
value of money.] Mr, Isaac Van Neamen was engaged to 
perform the mason work at the price of two dollars per 
thousand. He also agreed to furnish the stone for the 
foundation at six shillings a perch. In the spring of 1784 
Mr. Ezechiel Foster undertook the whole carpentry and 
joiner’s-work for the sum of three hundred pounds, stipu- 
lating exclusive payment for turning, and other extraor- 
dinary services incident to the business. 

‘‘As the season advanced the brickmakers begun their 
work and continued till late in the autumn. The mason 
proceeded as the materials were furnished. The carpen- 
ter also carried on his business; the managers procuring 

32 





TRINITY PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SWEDESBORO, NEW JERSEY 
Erected 1716 





EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT SWEDESBORO 


the timber, planks, boards, etc., from different parts of 
the neighborhood and principally from the city of Phila- 
delphia. The season proving very sickly, interrupted the 
several classes of workmen for some weeks. Neverthe- 
less, the work advanced by unwearied exertions so far, 
that the building was inclosed before Christmas.’’ 


In spite of all Dr. Collins’ exertions, the roof leaked, 
and a new roof was found necessary before the building 
could be used. The doctor himself helped in the work, 
as witness the following: 


‘‘Heavy rains in the late months spoiled a consider- 
able quantity of bricks already hauled to the church. The 
approach of winter and want of money permitted not 
the purchase of a new supply. It was therefore neces- 
sary to contrive small ovens for drying such as were tol- 
erable. I was myself very busy at this work many cold 
morning's and evening's, by which I contracted a severe 
rheumatic disorder, which continued for a long time.’’ 


The good rector’s labors may still be seen in the east- 
ern gable of the church, where between dried bricks may 
be seen those which were wet. 

Money subscribed did not come in as it should; pay- 
ments could not be met, so the following appeal was 
issued to the congregation in 1786 by the Committee 
in charge: 


‘Tt is nearly three years since the new church was 
first begun. We have done everything in our power, but 
have reason to complain of the backwardness and un- 
generous neglect of many subscribers, who have paid 
little or nothing. We know well who ean plead inability, 
and who in conscience cannot. We * * * earnestly re- 
quest every person of ability speedily to pay his ballance 
and if he cannot command money to give his note to such 
of our creditors as will accept of it: and we must plainly, 
tho’ with reluctance, declare, that we shall be under 
necessity of compelling the negligent by the authority of 
the law.’?’ 

3 33 


——- 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


Among those who subscribed and whose descendants 
are still living in or near Swedesboro were Frederick 
Otto, Samuel Hews, Conrad Shoemaker, Benjamin 
Rambo, William Homan, Hans Hellms, Andrew Homan, 
Isaac Van Neaman, John Hellms, Sr., John Rambo, 
James Tallman, Richard Batton, Wiliam Denny, Samuel 
Denny, John Van Neaman, George Van Neaman, Gideon 
Denny, Francis Batton, William Mattson, Thomas Bat- 
ton, Monroe Keen and George Van Lear. 

Not long after the completion of the building the 
Swedish Mission ceased to take care of the church. The 
warden and vestrymen, therefore, arranged first with a 
German Lutheran minister to help them. Then, in 1789, 
arrangements were made with a candidate for holy 
orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church to take 
charge when he was ordained. He began the long suc- 
cession of rectors of that communion which continues 
to this day. 


VI 
THREE OLD CHURCHES IN GERMANTOWN 


THE PAPER-MILL MENNONITE PREACHER. HOW BEGGARSTOWN 
RECEIVED ITS NAME. CHRISTOPHER SAUR, THE DUNKARD, AND 
HIS BIBLE. THE GINGERBREAD BAKER OF ST. MICHAEL’S 
LUTHERAN CHURCH. HE WOULD NOT BE A WAR PROFITEER 


FTER the death of Simon Menno, his converts, scat- 
A tered over many regions in Central Europe, were 
persecuted until many of them fled to Pennsyl- 
vania. The vanguard came in 1683; others followed in 
1698 and in 1708. 

Soon they had a log house for a meeting place; this 
was built in 1708, or perhaps a little earlier. The first 
preacher there was William Rittenhouse, who, in 1690, 
built the first paper mill in America, on the banks of the 
Wissahickon. His grandson, David Rittenhouse, born in 
the Rittenhouse homestead—which is still standing by 
the side of the Wissahickon—became the friend of 
Franklin and Jefferson. 

The original log building occupied by the Mennonites 
was displaced in 1770 by the stone structure used to-day. 
Visitors to this Main Street building take pleasure in 
its simple lines, its many-paned windows, and the sur- 
rounding stones in the cemetery where rest many of 
those who were leaders in old Germantown—Op den 
Graffs, Keysers, Cassels, Van Bibbers. 

The church suffered during the presence of the Brit- 
ish in Germantown. The leaders of the invaders were 
angered by the action of citizens who, from behind the 
ehurch wall, fired on the troops and fatally wounded 
Brigadier-General Agnew. 

A few squares farther up Main Street is the not 
dissimilar building of the Dunkards, occupied by the suc- 

35 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


cessors of their first congregation organized in America. 
Yet the structure is not quite so Quaker-like as that of 
the Mennonites. The round-top windows and the circu- 
lar light above the portico give it a tone that, to some 
of the members of other days, would seem almost worldly. 

In 1723 the church was founded on land in Bebber’s 
township, outside of Germantown proper. Because the 
tract there was owned by Matthias Van Bebber, the local- 
ity was called Bebbarstown. The name was corrupted 
to Beggarstown. That strange title had to be accounted 
for, so, when Morgan Edwards wrote about the church, 
- he told how the first house in the section was built by 
John Pettikopf, who was as poor as a beggar. Hence, 
the name Beggarstown! 

Not until 1760 was it possible to erect the first log 
meeting house. Ten years later this was succeeded by 
the present stone building. The rear wing was added in 
1797, but the front portion is almost unchanged, 

In early days the most prominent members of the 
congregation were Christopher Saur, the father and the 
son. The father, in 1748, published the first American 
quarto edition of the Bible. The son, who became Bishop 
of the Church of the Brethren, was also a publisher of 
the Bible. In the loft of the new church, at the time of 
the Battle of Germantown, were stored sheets of the 
third edition of the same Bible. British cavalrymen 
seized these and used them as bedding for their horses, 
and as wadding for muskets. 

Still a little farther along on Main Street is the build- 
ing of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, the first German 
Lutheran church in America, which was founded before 
1728. One of the early pastors was Rev. Henry Melchior 
Muhlenberg, who cared for the congregation in connec- 
tion with his church in Philadelphia. 

36 





DUNKARD CHURCH, GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 
Erected 1770 





MENNONITE CHURCH, GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 
Erected 1770 


L68T peor Supjing JUoserg ‘g%L[ eojoq popuno,y 
VINVATASNNGd ‘NMOLNVWHAD ‘HONNOHO NVUDHLOT S TAVHOIW ‘LS 





THREE OLD CHURCHES IN GERMANTOWN 


Dissension in the congregation led, among other 
things, to the organization in 1752 of the Lutheran church 
at Barren Hill, on the Germantown Road, whose first 
building was used as barracks by the troops under Gen- 
eral Lafayette. When the British forced the retirement 
of the American force, they used the church as a stable. 
The building thus desecrated was occupied until 1848, 
when a stone church with a very high steeple took its 
place. When this second building was burned in 1899, 
the building occupied to-day was erected. 

While the old building of Revolutionary days has dis- 
appeared, there are reminders of it. One is the marker 
erected by the Historical Society, which tells of the loca- 
tion of Lafayette’s battery of six guns. Another is the 
presence of descendants of the Cressmans, the Haleys, 
the Streepers, and the Freases. In the early days these 
families intermarried to such an extent that almost all 
the members of the congregation were related. 

The dissensions in St. Michael’s Church that led to the 
loss of many members were healed before the Revolu- 
tion, and the church began to prosper. But growth was 
interrupted by the war. The building was used by the 
British for a battery, and soldiers were quartered in it. 
The organ was entirely destroyed. The church occupied 
to-day is the second erected since that building. 

The graveyard of St. Michael’s repays a pilgrimage. 
Among those buried there are Major James Wither- 
spoon, son of Rev. John Witherspoon, president of 
Princeton College, who was killed in the Battle of Ger- 
mantown. But probably the most famous name carved on 
a stone in the enclosure is that of Christopher Ludwick. 

Before the Revolution Ludwick was a simple ginger- 
bread baker in Germantown. But when Congress real- 
ized that it was necessary to make arrangements to 

37 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


provide bread for Washington’s army in some more 
regular way than that in use before 1777, he was ap- 
pointed ‘‘Superintendent of Bakeries and Director of 
Baking in the Grand Army of the United States.’’ 

His biographer relates how he spurned the offer of 
Congress that would have made him a rich man—he was 
to have the privilege of delivering eighty pounds of bread 
for every one hundred pounds of flour furnished to him. 
But he was too much of a patriot to accept. ‘‘Is it that 
I should grow rich by such ways?’’ he asked. ‘‘I will 
bake one hundred and thirty pounds of bread for every 
hundred pounds of flour, and it will be good bread.’’ 

So his salary was fixed at seventy-five dollars per 
month. Generous pay that for a man who had to organ- 
ize a system for giving bread to the entire army, super- 
intending not only the making of bread, and the building 
of ovens, but the delivery of bread as well! 

Funds were not provided for his use, but rather than 
see the soldiers suffer, he sold his own property and 
spent the proceeds, as well as all his savings, for flour. 
And when, in 1781, broken in health and nearly ruined 
financially, he tried to give up his work, Congress refused 
to accept his resignation, and asked him to continue 
his task. 

When he died in 1801, the following message was 
placed over his grave in St. Michael’s Churchyard: 

‘‘On every occasion his zeal for the relief of the op- 
pressed was manifest: and by his last will, he bequeathed 
the greater part of his estate for the education of the 
children of the poor of all denominations, gratis. He 
lived and died respected for his integrity and public 
spirit, by all who knew him. Reader, such was Ludwick. 
Art thou poor, Venerate his character. Art thou rich, 
Imitate his example.’’ 

38 


VII 


THE TALE OF THREE PRESBYTERIAN 

CONGREGATIONS IN PHILADELPHIA 
A ‘*‘STROWLING PREACHER’? IMPRISONED. HOW BAPTISTS 
HELPED THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. AN AUCTION 
BLOCK FOR SLAVES IN PHILADELPHIA. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 
STANDS BY THE PREACHER. ‘‘A DUCK POND IN THE WILDER- 
NESS.’? HOW WHITEFIELD’S OUTDOOR PREACHING LED TO THE 
SECOND CHURCH. THE STORY OF A STEEPLE. WHEN PINE 
STREET CHURCH SAVED THE COLONIES. TOO MANY MEN IN 
CHURCH 


Rehoboth, Maryland, asked the Presbytery of Lag- 

gan, in Ireland, to send a Presbyterian minister 
who could gather into a church the members of that com- 
munion who lived near him. In response to the request 
Rev. Francis Makemie came to Rehoboth, where he or- 
ganized the first Presbyterian church in America. 

Much of the time of this pioneer was spent in travel- 
ing from place to place, as far north as New York City— 
where, a few years later, he had a trying experience with 
Lord Cornbury, who ordered his arrest and imprison- 
ment for daring to ‘‘Preach in a Private House, without 
having obtained my License for so doing, which is di- 
rectly contrary to the known Laws of England.”’ 
Makemie invoked as his authority a certain Act of Par- 
liament which Lord Cornbury said ‘‘was much against 
Strowling Preachers, and you are such, and shall not 
preach in my government.’’ 

Fortunately, the Presbyterian minister from Ireland 
found a more cordial welcome in Philadelphia, when he 
visited that thriving nine-year-old town in 1692. Finding 
there a number of Presbyterian sympathizers, he gath- 

39 


ent the year 1680 Colonel William Stevens, of 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


ered them for service in the old sail loft called the Bar- 
badoes store, a warehouse of the Society of Free 
Traders, or the Barbadoes Company, at the northwest 
corner of Second and Walnut Streets. With the Pres- 
byterians came others, notably the Baptist residents of 
Philadelphia, who gladly joined in a series of union 
services. After the first service conducted by Makemie, 
arrangements were made for preaching every other Sun- 
day by Rev. John Watts, pastor of Pennepek Baptist 
Church. On other Sundays visiting Presbyterian min- 
isters preached, whenever these were available. 

Three years later, in 1698, the way was open for the 
coming from Boston of Jedediah Andrews. Under his 
guidance the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia 
was soon organized. The members were English Dis- 
senters, Welsh Calvinists, and French Huguenots, who 
wished for something different from the stately service 
offered them in Christ Church. Their first pastor was 
ordained in 1701, and the church was ready for advance 
in a town in which were about five thousand people who 
lived in some five hundred homes. 

The first ruling elders of the new church were John 
Snowden, tanner, and William Gray, baker. At that time 
material for office-bearers was strictly limited, but soon — 
there was such growth that nine men were among the 
members, while a larger place of worship was necessary. 
Accordingly, in 1704, a building was erected on the corner 
of White Horse Alley (now Bank Street) and Market 
Street. While no picture of the structure is available, a 
good idea of it may be gained from the description of 
Kalm, the Swedish traveler, of 1748. He said it was a 
plain building, with a hexagonal or semi-circular roof, 
and that it ran north and south, ‘‘because the Presby- 

4.0 


THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 


terians are not particular as to the points of the com- 
pass in placing their Church.’’ 

The first book of records of the church, which was 
begun in 1701, has in it an entry made by the first Mayor 
of Philadelphia, dated March 13, 1753. This reads: 

‘‘As T think it necessary that this book of records 
should be preserved, I desire that my executor or ad- 
ministrator will take particular care of it. It was deliv- 
ered to me by William Gray, one of the executors of the 
Rev. Mr. Jedediah Andrews, deceased. 

‘‘Hidward Shippen.”’ 

Growth continued, in spite of the prophecy made by 
a representative of the Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel, who wrote, in 1702: 

‘“‘They have here in Philadelphia a Presbyterian 
minister, one called Andrews, but they are not like to 
increase.’’ 

Again in 1708 the same man sent word home to 
London: 

‘‘The Presbyterians have come a great way to lay 
hands one on another, but, after all, I think they had as 
good stay at home for the good they do.”’ 

In 1729 the church building was enlarged. The con- 
_. gregation was not able to bear the entire cost, so Mr. 
Andrews persuaded Boston friends to take part in the 
project. The new building was long known as ‘‘Old But- 
tonwood,’’ because of the buttonwood trees about it. 

Almost directly in front of Old Buttonwood was the 
auction block, where slaves and Redemptioners were sold, 
in accordance with an announcement like the following, 
which appeared in 1758 in Franklin’s Pennsylvania 
Gazette: 

‘“To be sold, a likely negro wench about twenty-five 
years of age; is an exceeding good cook, washwoman and 

41 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


ironer, and is very capable of doing all Sorts of house- 
work. Inquire of the printer.’’ 

Benjamin Franklin was a pewholder in Old Button- 
wood, as appeared from his defense of Rev. Samuel 
Hemphill, an Irish minister who came to the city in 1735. 
The people liked the preaching of the stranger, but the 
pastor of the church declared that his theology was not 
sound. Synod joined in the opinion. But Franklin liked 
him, and stood by him, in the Pennsylvania Gazette, and 
in a pamphlet which he printed for the purpose. 

During the early days of the Revolutionary War 
the pastor was Dr. Francis Allison, Vice-Provost and 
Professor of Moral Philosophy in the College of Philadel- 
phia. His scholarship was so profound that the Presi- 
dent of Yale College was led to call him ‘‘the greatest 
classical scholar in America.’’ That he knew how to im- 
press others appears from his record; it is said that he 
instructed at least four Governors, eight Congressmen, 
and four Signers of the Declaration of Independence. 

One of his most famous pupils was Charles Thom- 
son, who became an honored elder in the First Church. 
Dr. Allison befriended Charles in 1739, when, a boy of 
eleven, he was set adrift on the shores of the Delaware by 
the rascally captain of the ship who had brought him, his 
brother, and his father from Ireland. The father died 
on the voyage, and the captain took advantage of his 
opportunity. First in the academy, then in the college, 
Dr. Allison gave him his education, and when the teacher 
was pastor of the First Church he had part of his reward, 
in seeing Thomson become not only an office-bearer, but 
the first Secretary of the American Congress, and one 
of the master spirits of the American Revolution. In 
later life he won fame as the translator of the Septua- 
gint. And always he was known for his high sense of 

42 


THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 


honor. ‘‘As true as if Charles Thomson’s name were 
to it,’? was one man’s way of giving a superlative state- 
ment of truth. 

Dr. Allison was succeeded by Dr. John Ewing, who 
was also Provost and Professor of Natural Philosophy 
in the University of Pennsylvania. During his term of 
service one of the most prominent elders was Dr. Hugh 
Williamson, an influential member of the convention that 
framed the Constitution of the United States. 

It was also during Dr. Ewing’s pastorate that an 1m- 
proved church became necessary. <A stately record of 
the day tells of the change: 


“The congregation, being able and flourishing, began 
to think it necessary to rebuild our church, and in 1783 
subscriptions to a large amount were raised, and the 
present elegant building commenced. Captain Magnus 
Miller, an antient and wealthy member of the congrega- 
tion, devoted his whole time in superintending and re- 
building, and whilst the pestilential fever was raging 
throughout the city, did the worthy man continue to 
superintend the rebuilding.”’ 


During the rebuilding operations, the congregation 
was permitted the use of the hall of the University of 
Pennsylvania. This privilege was surrendered in 1796, 
when the congregation entered the new building. The old 
structure had been extended until it reached to Market 
Street. A handsome portico, with Corinthian columns, 
distinguished the structure. The first name on the sub- 
scription list for the new church was Thomas McKean, 
Chief Justice and Governor of Pennsylvania, both Prov- 
ince and State. 

In the new building pews were to be given by choice, 
made in order of subscriptions to the church. But there 
was a notable exception: ‘‘Provided always that the So- 

43 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


ciety reserves to itself the right of allotting a pew in all 
or any of the said choice of subscribers for the accommo- 
dation. of such members as may be aged, infirm, hard of 
hearing, or respectable for their long standing and use- 
fulness in the congregation, without having any refer- 
ence to the amount of their subscriptions. ’’ 

The enlarged building was occupied until 1821, when 
after much discussion it was decided to purchase a lot 
on the south side of Washington Square. This lot was 
then a mere duck pond, and its outlet flowed through the 
square to Dock Creek. Since 1701 the square had been 
a Potter’s Field for strangers. There many soldiers of 
the Revolution were buried. Until 1795 the bodies of 
paupers continued to find resting places there. 

‘Why erect a church in a duck pond in the wilder- 
ness?’’? was the query of those who opposed the new 
structure. But their opposition was in vain. In 1821 
a church magnificent for the time was erected. The 
building, almost unchanged, is still occupied by the con- 
eregation. Visitors to the city who look on its hospitable 
looking portico from the trees of Washington Square, or 
who take place within the gate of a comfortable pew, 
beneath the lofty ceiling, between the great organ and the 
lofty pulpit, to which curving stairs lead from two sides, 
agree that this is one of the notable church buildings of 
the country. 

Of the many leaders in the city who were members 
of the church during the early years in the new building, 
one of the most prominent was Matthias Baldwin, 
founder of the great Baldwin Locomotive Works, and 
builder of the famous pioneer locomotive ‘‘Old Iron- 
sides,’?’ who was as devoted to his church as to 
his business. 

The roll of the pastors in the First Church has been 

Ad 





FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WASHINGTON SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA 
Founded 1698; This Building Erected 1821 


peyoarg PPYo NYA oSNOP JNO’ yy Jo Auooleg oy] Woody “GELT UL poyoyoys 
VIHdTH0VIIHd ‘SLAAULS LAYUVW GNV GNOOUS “ASNOH DNILAAW SaNaIuYt GNOOWS GNV WSQOOH LHNOO WHHL 





THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 


remarkable. One pastor was John Blair Linn, at one 
time a student of law in the office of Alexander Hamilton. 
His unusual service was cut short by early death. 

Dr. James P. Wilson, before coming to the church, 
was for fourteen years a lawyer in Delaware, and became 
Chancellor of the State. But when he was in the midst 
of his success at the bar, he was converted. After a few 
years Dr. Benjamin Rush recommended him to the First 
Church. During his service, from 1806 to 1830, he gave 
to the church not only national but international reputa- 
tion. He was followed by a man who added to that fame 
—Albert Barnes, who was pastor from 1830 to 1870. The 
most popular Bible commentator of his day, he was also 
a famous expository preacher, who attracted visitors to 
the city from all points. They came because they liked 
to hear a man who knew the Bible apply it to problems 
of the day. Even those who disagreed with his vehe- 
mence in opposing such an evil as slavery, respected him 
because of his tremendous earnestness. 

Successors of Dr. Wilson and Dr. Barnes have added 
to the reputation of the church, but they cannot dim the 
fame of those giants of the early days. 

The First Church has been called the Mother Church 
of the Communion. Out of it have come so many other 
churches. Then it welcomed many of the notable gather- 
ings of the Presbyterian Church. The first Presbytery 
was organized in Old Buttonwood in 1705. Thirty-eight 
General Assemblies have met in the First Church, 
eighteen of them in the edifice now standing, including 
the Assembly of 1870, which marked reunion after disas- 
trous division, and that of 1888, the Centennial Assembly, 
held at the close of one hundred years of organized Pres- 
byterianism in America. 

The story of the beginning of the Second Presbyterian 

45 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


Church of Philadelphia is closely connected with the 
famous George Whitefield, companion and friend of the 
Wesleys, who prevailed on him to follow them to the 
New World. The Wesleys were at work in Georgia, but 
Whitefield began his work in Philadelphia. 

There a warm welcome awaited him from the people, 
although most of the churches were clos.d to him. So 
he preached out of doors, and the people flocked to hear 
him. Sometimes the chosen place was the old Court 
House at the corner of Second and Market Streets; there, 
from the steps and the balcony, he pleaded with the thou- 
sands who came to listen to him. It is said that the 
throngs sometimes filled the space from the Court House 
to the Delaware River. Many hearers sat in boats on the 
river. Again he would lead his admirers to Society Hill, 
between Spruce and Pine, from Second to Front Streets. 
Standing by the flagstaff, he would often look into the 
faces of fifteen thousand people, not only on Sundays, 
but on week-days as well. So earnest was his preach- 
ing that he could be heard at Gloucester, two miles away. 

The impression made in the city was so profound that 
even (Juaker James Pemberton was led to write: 


‘‘Wleventh of 9th month, 1739. He preaches every 
day. Some of our curious youths of rash judgment, who 
look at words rather than substance, are very constant 
in attendance and much pleased. * * * Last night he 
had the greatest multitude I ever saw, and some accident 
happened which greatly frightened many. Some thought 
it was an earthquake; others that it was fire, and others 
that the Spaniards were come. Many were hurt by fall- 
ing and being trodden upon; many lost their hats, cloaks, 
etc. ‘The preacher had to leave off speaking till they 
recovered their senses, which some did and others 
did not.’’ 

46 


THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 


And Benjamin Franklin said: 


‘“‘Tt was wonderful to see the change soon made in 
the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless 
and indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the 
world was growing religious; so that one could not walk 
through the town in an evening without hearing psalms 
sung in different families in every street.’’ 

The effect tf the oratory was startling. The cause 
of the panic of which James Pemberton told was the fall- 
ing of a lantern held by a young man who was deeply 
moved by what he heard. Even such a cool-headed, un- 
emotional, philosophical and somewhat skeptical hearer 
as Benjamin Franklin acknowledged that Whitefield’s 
eloquence penetrated all his defenses and left him so 
powerless to resist that on a certain occasion when: he 
had made up his mind to give nothing to the Orphan 
House in Georgia for which Whitefield was pleading, he 
speedily changed his plans. As the speaker proceeded, 
he began to soften: 

‘*T had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three 
or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. I deter- 
mined to give the copper. Another stroke of his oratory 
made me ashamed of that, and determined me to give 
the silver, and he finished so admirably that I emptied 
my pockets wholly into the collection dish.’’ 

The effect of Whitefield’s oratory was noticed on 
public amusements. ‘‘The dancing school was discon- 
tinued,’’ writes one historian. ‘‘The ball and concert 
rooms were shut up. When some gay and spoiled young 
men broke open the room, and announced a ball, there 
was not a single person who would attend.”’ 

James Logan told how, ‘‘by good language, a better 
utterance, an engaging manner, and a powerful voice, he 
gained much at first on most sorts of people. He gained 
so much on the multitude that they have begun for him 


47 


. OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


a great brick building in which, though not covered, he 
preached a great many times.’’ This building was oc- 
cupied later by the College of Philadelphia, predecessor 
of the University of Pennsylvania. 

During Whitefield’s absence in Georgia, Gilbert Ten- 
nent, son of the famous founder of the Log College at 
Neshaminy, and himself trained in that primitive school, 
carried on the work begun by the great evangelist. This 
was done so successfully that when, in 1740, Whitefield 
returned to the city, he was glad to work with Tennent. 

One who heard Tennent preach was William Black, 
who was Secretary of the Commission appointed by Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Gooch of Virginia to unite with similar 
commissions from Pennsylvania and Maryland in treaty 
with the Iroquois, with reference to the lands west of the 
Alleghanies. Of his visit he wrote humorously: 

‘‘Most of our young Company with my-Self went in 
order to Visit the Reverend Mr. Gilbert Tennent, a 
Disciple of the Great Whitefield, whose followers are 
Called the New lights; we found him Delivering his 
Doctrines with a very Good Grace, Split his Text as 
Judiciously, turned up the Whites of his Hyes as Theo- 
logically, Cuffed his cushions as Orthodoxly, and twisted 
his Band as Primitively as his Master Whitefield could 
have done, had he been there himself; we were not Con- 
verts enough to hear him to an end, but withdrew Very 
Circumspectly * * *’ 

A result of the work of Tennent and Whitefield was 
the growth of many churches in the city. One of these 
was the First Presbyterian Church. After a time some 
of the members felt that they would have more freedom 
if they were to have a church of their own. Many con- 
verts of Whitefield who were not yet members of any 
church were ready to unite with them. So came the or- 
ganization in 1742 of the Second Presbyterian Church of 

48 








SOCIETY HILL, EAST SIDE OF FOURTH STREET, IN 1839 
Between Willings Alley and Spruce Street 


accor cen ceteris Reg 


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ARCH STREET WITH THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,” PHULADELPHIA 


mere 
anu 





Til eet 


a LR ne en ec 


THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 
SRD i 
Philadelphia, which secured a charter from Thomas Penn 
and John Penn, ‘‘true and absolute proprietaries of the 
Province of Pennsylvania, Counties of New Castle, Kent 
and Sussex, Delaware.’? Among the charter members 
were William Shippen, Sr., William Shippen, Jr., John 
Bayard, William Bradford, John Rhea, Benjamin Armi- 
tage and Andrew Hodge, one of the signers of the Non- 
Importation agreement of 1765, whose house was burned 
by the British in 1777. He was ancestor of a family 
famous in the Presbyterian Church, a family still repre- 
sented prominently in Philadelphia. 

The first home of the new organization was the large 
plain building on Fourth Street which had been built for 
Whitefield. This building was completed by subscription, 
and was opened for service. 

While George Whitefield has always been thought 
of as the first pastor of the new church, the real 
moulder of the young congregation was Gilbert Ten- 
nent, whose power as a preacher was second only to that 
of Whitefield. 

Six years after the organization of the church the 
building was sold for the use of the first Academy of 
Philadelphia, and was succeeded by a brick building on 
the northwest corner of Third and Arch Streets. A 
wooden steeple was afterward put upon the west end, and 
was paid for by a lottery. The fact that such a young 
congregation, made up of Whitefield’s converts, at that, 
should dare to have a steeple that in many ways sur- 
passed the steeple of Christ Church, was not pleasing to 
everyone. The feeling of some opponents found ex- 
pression in a bit of doggerel: 


‘‘The Presbyterians built a church 
And fain would have a steeple: 
We think it may become the church, 
But not become the people.’’ 


» 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 





There was triumph among some envious detractors of 
the young church, when, after forty years, the steeple was 
removed because of insecure foundations. 

That first permanent home of the congregation has 
been described: 


‘The front entrance was on Third Street, and the 
pulpit was placed on the north side: over it hung a large 
sounding-board, suspended in such a way as to cause 
some anxiety among the younger worshippers lest it 
should fall on the preacher’s head. Below the pulpit, and 
directly in front, was a reading desk for the precentor, or 
‘the setter of tunes.’ An aisle ran through the middle 
of the church from east to west, and another from north 
to south, paved with brick, in which were placed slabs 
to commemorate the dead who were buried underneath. 
One pew was set apart as the President’s or the Gov- 
ernor’s pew. It was surmounted by a canopy, supported 
by carved columns.’’ 

When Congress met in Philadelphia, provision was 
made for the members in the pews, as well as for the 
President. <A letter from John Adams, dated January 5, 
1791, expressed thanks for the provision thus made. 

When Washington removed from Philadelphia the 
church purchased from him a glass chandelier, used by 
the President in his Philadelphia home. For many years, 
when this held the candles by which the church was 
lighted, there was difficulty in preventing visitors from 
abstracting drops from the chandelier. 

Long before the days when Washington used the 
chandelier in his home, John Adams, then a member of 
Congress, attended the church. On September 4, 1774, 
he wrote of going to hear the pastor, Rev. James Sproat: 
‘‘He uses no notes, opens his Bible, and talks away,’’ he 
said. A week later he told of a communion service: ‘* We 
had an opportunity of seeing the custom of the Presby- 

50 


——_—__—_ 


THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 


terians in administering the sacrament. The communi- 
cants all came to a row of seats placed on each side of 
a narrow table, spread in the middle of the alley, reach- 
ing from the deacons’ seat to the front of the house. 
Hach communicant has a token which he delivers to 
the deacon.”’ 

In 1777 Mr. Adams became a boarder in the home of 
Pastor Sproat. At the time of his entering the home 
Mr. Sproat was ill. ‘‘Mrs. Sproat and the four young 
ladies, his daughters, are in great distress on account of 
his sickness, and the approach of Howe’s army,’’ wrote 
the future President. 

Their fears were by no means groundless. Within a 
short time the British approached, Congress fled, and 
John Adams went with them. During the winter when the 
British held the city, the church building suffered 
greatly. ‘‘The pews and the woodwork were destroyed, 
and the fence around the building was removed. A large 
brass chandelier, or ‘branch,’ as it was called, which had 
been imported from England, was taken away and sold 
in New York. It was afterwards recovered from the 
purchaser.’’ 

On April 30, 1783, a bill for £202.9.7 was made out by 
a committee of the congregation, on account of the dam- 
age suffered. Six years after the presentation of the bill, 
the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church 
was held in the repaired structure. 

Among the many members of the church who were 
prominent during the Revolutionary War was James 
Trimble, son of Alexander Trimble, another member. 
After the father’s death the son helped the mother in 
her store. There his accuracy in making out a bill at- 
tracted the attention of James Tilghman, Secretary of the 
Land Office under the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania. 


51 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








The result was that young Trimble went to the Land 
Office. During the Revolution he was clerk to the State 
Council of Safety, and later was Deputy for Colonel Tim- 
othy Matlack, first Secretary of the Commonwealth. 

Another member was Thomas Leiper, whose name 
later became famous as the builder of the first experi- 
mental railroad in America, in the yard of the Bull’s 
Head Tavern, Third Street above Callowhill, Philadel- 
phia, in 1809, and of the first permanent tramway in 
America, at his quarries on Crum Creek and Ridley Creek, 
Chester County, in the same year. As an organizer of 
the City Troop of Philadelphia, and one of its officers, 
he served through the Revolution. He was with Wash- 
ington at the Battles of Princeton, Brandywine, German- 
town and Monmouth. To him was given the task of 
carrying the first subsidies of the French to the army 
at Yorktown. 

One of the interesting stories of the days following 
the Revolution tells of the disturbance of the congrega- 
tion of the Second Church by Sunday traffic in the streets. 
So they asked the city authorities for leave ‘‘to fix chains 
at the corner of Mulberry and Third Streets, on the Sab- 
bath, for so long time as may be necessary to prevent 
such interruption in future.’’ 

While the request was not granted, the legislature 
passed a law authorizing the use of chains. Accordingly, 
when the Sabbath services began, the sexton stretched 
chains across both Arch and Third Streets. But it was 
soon found that horsemen would go round the chain, 
riding on the pavement. Their clatter disturbed the ser- 
vice, until the sexton and a constable placed for the pur- 
pose were authorized to make arrests. 

The next home of the church was on Seventh Street, 
near Arch. Many objected to the change of location; 

52 


LR 


THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 
RUE OY BP Oe YS ITS EN ASAT 
they said the lots chosen were ‘‘too far west.’’? Yet in 
1837 the building was opened on that site. 

The new church was built of marble, and was lighted 
with gas—probably the first church in the city to be 
so distinguished. 

The successor of this noble building is the structure 
at Twenty-second and Walnut streets, which was dedi- 
cated in 1872. | 

After the organization of the Second Church, the 
First Church continued to grow until it was felt by many 
that still another Presbyterian church should be organ- 
ized, and that this should occupy a portion of the thriving 
city that was showing remarkable vitality. The section 
that appealed to them was known as Society Hill, from 
the fact that in early days a society of traders had be- 
come owners of all the land between the Delaware and 
the Schuylkill Rivers, between Pine and Front Streets. 
The name, however, was applied to a larger region than 
that covered by the society’s purchases. 

Accordingly, in 1764, Thomas and Richard Penn 
transferred ‘‘to the congregation belonging to the old 
Presbyterian meeting-house,’’ a lot at Fourth and Pine 
Streets. On this lot, in 1766, the erection of a meeting 
house for the proposed Third Presbyterian Church was 
begun, under the direction of John Moon, William Rush, 
James Craig, George Bryan, and Samuel Purvis, Jr. 
This was a notable committee, for William Rush became 
a colonel in Washington’s army, and custodian of the 
State House, while George Bryan became a justice of 
Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Hughes O. Gibbons, in his history of the church, 
says: 

‘¢At that time Philadelphia was a provincial town of 
some twenty-five thousand inhabitants. The dwelling 

53 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


houses in the city and suburbs numbered 4474. The town 
extended somewhat over two miles along the Delaware 
River. The western boundary was very irregular. A 
line beginning at the Old Swedes’ Church, touching at 
Fourth and Pine Streets, and running between Fourth 
and Fifth Streets to Vine, would perhaps fairly indicate 
the western limit. None of the streets running east and 
west below South reached farther than Fifth Street. 
The length of Queen Street was two squares. Where the 
town extended farthest from the Delaware, houses be- 
yond Sixth Street were suburban. Much of the district 
immediately west of the city limits was common, where 
cows and sheep and swine roamed and fed, either in the 
open spaces which were covered with short grass, or 
under the briars and bushes and trees. The Pine Street 
lot was the beginning of this common, where the children 
were accustomed to go berrying. The closely built section 
of the city was at the business centers that did not extend 
more than three or four squares from the Delaware. 
Many of the best residences were on Front and Water 
streets, and it was the custom for the families of most 
respectable tradespeople and artisans to live over their 
stores and shops. The work of paving the streets had 
just begun. In front of the Pine Street lot was a sand 
road. Between this lot and the river were a number of 
houses built on large plots of ground.”’ 


The Market Street church paid most of the expense of 
the new building, but the funds necessary to complete it 
were secured by a lottery which yielded twenty-five hun- 
dred pounds. Thus the way was made ready for the 
congregation that met in February, 1768, in what was one 
of the finest buildings occupied by a church of the com- 
munion in the Colonies. Thus began the history of ‘‘the 
only living colonial church of the Presbyterian denomina- 
tion, on its original foundations, in Philadelphia.’’ 

It was planned at first to make the relationship be- 
tween the First and Third Churches collegiate—the 

54 


THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 


beginning of a statesmanlike plan to build houses of wor- 
ship in different centers, the title to the property to be 
vested in one general committee, which was to conduct 
the secular affairs of all the congregations. Each church 
was to have its own minister for pastoral work, but the 
pulpits of all the churches were to be occupied in rotation 
by all the pastors. There was in the plan ‘‘the prin- 
ciple afterward so effectively applied in the union of the 
Colonies, and later in the Union of the States.’’ 

But the original plan could not be carried out, and 
the Third Church—or Pine Street Church, as it was 
known—became altogether independent. 

First, however, there were difficulties that led to ap- 
peals to the courts. These differences were not settled 
until the need of the country for the united action of all 
patriotic people led to the burying of disputes. 

The pastor of the Third Church during the days of 
difference with the First Church was George Duffield, a 
Princeton graduate, who became Chaplain to the Conti- 
nental Congress and the Pennsylvania Militia during the 
Revolutionary War, and father of George Duffield, for 
many years Comptroller-General of Pennsylvania, and 
author of the hymn, ‘‘Stand up, Stand up for Jesus.’’ 
He was a powerful preacher. One of the converts under 
his ministry was Dr. John McDowell, once Provost of 
the University of Pennsylvania. 

One of the most dramatic scenes in the early history 
of Pine Street Church was witnessed when, for three 
hours, a solemn congregation sat sedately in their pews. 
Then after an interval of silence the minister faced again 
the congregation: ‘‘We are gathered here to-day to say 
farewell to our dear friends who are about to go out as 
missionaries to Pittsburgh. They are going into great 

55 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 





dangers and perils, and it is likely they will soon die. 
In anticipation of this sad event we will now sing their 
funeral dirge: 


‘¢ “Why should we mourn departing friends 
Or shrink from death’s alarms?’ ”’ 


One of the members of the church during the early 
days of the Revolution was John Adams, Signer of the 
Declaration of Independence. That a service held in 
Pine Street Church on May 17, 1776, helped him to join 
in the decision that was so momentous to the Colonies 
is shown by an extract from a letter written to his wife, 
after hearing his pastor liken the conduct of George the 
Third to that of Pharaoh to the Israelites, concluding 
that Providence intended the liberation of the Americans, 
as it had intended the liberation of the Israelites. The 
letter to Mrs. Adams read: 


‘‘Ts it not a saying of Moses, Who am I that I should 
eo in and out before this great people? When I consider 
the great events which are passed, and those greater 
which are rapidly advancing, and that I may have been 
instrumental in touching some springs, and turning some 
small wheels, which have had and will have such effects, 
I feel an awe upon my mind, which is not easily de- 
scribed. Great Britain has at last driven America to the 
last step, a complete separation from her; a total, abso- 
lute independence, not only of her parliament, but of her 
crown. For such is the amount of the resolution of the 
fifteenth. Confederation among ourselves or alliance 
with foreign nations is not necessary to a perfect separa- 
tion from Britain. That is effected by extinguishing all 
authority under the crown, parliament, and nation as the 
resolution for instituting governments has done to all 
intents and purposes. Confederation will be necessary 
for our internal concord, and alliance may be so for our 
internal defense.’’ 

56 





THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (OLD PINE STREET CHURCH), PHILADELPHIA 
Erected 1766 





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THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 


In Headley’s ‘‘Chaplains of the American Revolu- 
tion,’’ there is a page that shows still further the intense 
patriotism of Pastor Duffield: 


‘‘The patriots of the first Congress flocked to his 
church, and John Adams and his compeers were of his 
hearers, for he preached as Jonas Clarke had preached 
before Lexington. In a discourse delivered before sev- 
eral companies of the Pennsylvania militia and members 
of Congress, four months before the Declaration of In- 
dependence, he took bold and decided ground in favor of 
that step, and pleaded his cause with sublime eloquence, 
which afterwards made him so obnoxious to the British 
that they place a reward of fifty pounds for his capture. 
He declared that heaven designed the western world as 
the asylum of liberty, and that to raise its banners here 
their forefathers had sundered the dearest ties of home, 
friends, and native land, and braved the tempests of the 
ocean and the horrors of the wilderness. In such strains 
of impassioned eloquence did he sustain his argument for 
liberty, and pour his own brave, glowing soul into his 
excited listeners, till they were ready, when he closed, 
to shout, ‘To arms! to arms!’ So great was his zeal 
in the cause of the Colonies, and so wide was his influence 
known to be, that his services in the army were sought 
for at the earliest moment, and four days after the 
Declaration of Independence he received his commission 
as chaplain to the Pennsylvania Militia.’’ 


On Sunday, on entering his pulpit, he looked about 
him with grave concern. Then he said: ‘‘There are too 
many men here this morning. I am going to the front.”’ 
And at the front he was always welcome to the soldiers 
of the Continental army, who were inspired by him to 
such deeds of bravery that the hatred of the British for 
the ‘‘rebel parson’’ was intensified. On one occasion, 
when he was preaching from the forks of a tree in an 
orchard on the Jersey shore, opposite Staten Island, the 
British fired cannon at the company. ‘‘Soon the heavy 


57 


a nN Rn nn enna! 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Bn eee 
shot came crashing through the branches, and went 
singing overhead,’’ said Headley. ‘‘Mr. Duffield * Pike 
proposed that they should adjourn behind an adjacent hil- 
lock. They did so, and continued their worship, while 
the iron storm hailed harmlessly overhead.”’ 

During the entire war, except when Philadelphia was 
in the hands of the British, the Chaplain-Pastor divided 
his time between the army and his church, doing strenu- 
ous work with both. 7 

After the evacuation of Philadelphia, the church 
building, which had been occupied by the British, was 
found in bad condition. But far worse was the scatter- 
ing of the congregation. Some of this, of course, was 
inevitable, for many of the men of the church were in 
the Army. The remarkable statement is made that, of 
the one hundred and ten signers of the call to George 
Duffield in 1771, sixty-seven served in the Revolution- 
ary War. 

Among those who served the church on the Board of 
Trustees at various times was Colonel Robert Knox, a 
prominent organizer of the Pennsylvania Militia, and col- 
onel of a regiment of four companies enlisted by himself, 
known as ‘‘Colonel Knox’s Own.”’ 

Dr. William Shippen, Jr., the first professor of medi- 
cine in America, member of the faculty of the University 
of Pennsylvania, was Director General of all Hospitals 
for five years. 

Colonel Thomas Robinson was shot down at the Battle 
of Brandywine, but he recovered and again took his place 
at the head of his troops. 

Dr. Samuel Duffield was a worker in the hospitals, 
and a member of the Continental Congress. 

John Tittermory was ropemaker to the Continental 

58 


THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 


Army, while James McGlathery made gun-carriages 
throughout the war. 

William Henry was an officer of distinction. Later, 
when he was adjutant, he compiled the lists of Revolu- 
tionary soldiers on which members of patriotic organ- 
izations have ever since depended for much of their 
information. 

Paul Cox was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Pennsy]l- 
vania Militia, Captain of the Barclay of the Pennsylvania 
Navy, and, in 1777, was one of six members of the Com- 
mittee of Safety which had charge of the defense of 
the city. 

Francis Bailey was printer to Congress. During the 
British occupation of Philadelphia, he lived in Lancaster. 
There, in 1779, he published an almanac in which he first 
described Washington as ‘‘The Father of His Country.’’ 
His son-in-law, General John Steele, had a wonderful 
career, which has been outlined: ‘‘Desperately wounded 
in the Battle of Brandywine; aide-de-camp to Washing- 
ton in New Jersey, having charge of Mrs. Washington at 
Morristown; field officer at Yorktown on the day of the 
surrender of Cornwallis; and when the War of 1812 broke 
out he formed a company of old people for the defense 
of Philadelphia; of this company he was captain.”’ 

Captain William Linnard also served in the War of 
1812, as well as in the Revolution. In the autobiography 
of Lt.-General Winfield Scott this was said of him: ‘‘For 
thirty-three years he made at Philadelphia all disburse- 
ments on account of the army, amounting to fifty-odd mil- 
lions, without the loss of a cent, and at the smallest cost 
in storage, clerk hire, and other incidental expenses, 
ever known.’’ 

Lieutenant John W. Woodside was for two years on 
the prison ship in New York harbor. 

59 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


Captain Nathan Ross served on the armed boat Wash- 
ington, and, later, on the Franklin; he was perhaps the 
earliest naval officer on record in America. 

Lieutenant-Colonel James Ross was a commander on 
whose clear-headedness Washington learned to place 
great reliance. 

For Colonel George Latimer the British offered a 
reward of fifty pounds, ‘‘dead or alive.’’ After the war 
he became Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

Of other members of the church who served in the war, 
James Porter was Colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment 
at the Battle of Princeton. For his bravery there he was 
made Brigadier-General, and later became a Major-Gen- 
eral. Thomas Craig rose from Second Lieutenant to 
Colonel. Isaac Craig was Major of Artillery at York- 
town. John Ross passed through the grades from Cap- 
tain to Lieutenant-Colonel. John Marshall rose from 
the ranks to be Captain-Lieutenant. 

Many of these men, as well as other Revolutionary 
heroes, were buried in the old churchyard. 

Two more names should be recorded—that of William 
Hurrie, who rang the State House bell on the day when 
the Declaration of Independence was given to the world, 
and Mrs. Rush, who, after the death of her husband, 
moved from Byberry to Philadelphia, and opened a store, 
whose profits enabled her to educate her two sons. One 
of these sons was Dr. Benjamin Rush, Signer of the 
Declaration of Independence, the second Signer in the 
congregation. 

The history of the Old Pine Street Church has con- 
tinued glorious. During the War of 1812 the pastor and 
members were prominent in service. During the Civil 
War the pastor, Dr. Thomas Brainerd, was a leader in 

60 





THREE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATIONS 





patriotic enterprises. His name has high place in the 
historic succession of pastors, in which Dr. Archibald 
Alexander and Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely were included. 

Always the church has given notable ministry in the 
region which, from a suburban locality, became first an 
outpost of the town, then the center of a population of 
church-goers, and finally the abode of a teeming popula- 
tion of foreigners. 

To-day the attendance at the services is small, but 
they are still maintained, while the church and the his- 
toric churchyard are a Mecca for those who delight in 
standing where history was made, and in the sight of 
peace and beauty in the midst of surrounding squalor. 


EN Sa nC Pan ree Sn Om PEMeENENTLTSR RMT) 5 


Vill 


CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, BIRTHPLACE 
OF THE AMERICAN PROTESTANT 


EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
(6m MINISTER OF THE DOCTRINE OF DEVILS.’’ THE MAN WHO 
HAD PITY ON ‘‘POOR PHILADELPHIA.’’ ‘‘THE PHILADELPHIA 


STEEPLE LOTTERY.’’ WHY CHRIST CHURCH CHIMES RANG FOR 
CAPTAIN BUDDEN. FAMOUS MEN IN THE PEWS; FAMOUS MEN 
IN THE BURYING GROUND 








churches in America than Christ Church, Philadel- 

phia, but a place of special honor belongs to this 
church because within its walls, in September, 1785, there 
was a gathering of representatives of the Episcopal 
Church in seven states. At this meeting it was resolved 
that the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United 
States should be organized. 

There have been many changes in the house of wor- 
ship of Christ Church since the first building was erected 
on the present site in 1695, the year of the founding of 
the church, in accordance with the provisions of the char- 
ter given by King Charles IT to William Penn. 

The first preacher, Rev. Thomas Clayton, came from 
London in 1698. His success was so great that some of 
the early Friends called him ‘‘the minister of the doc- 
trine of devils.’? The seventy people he found became 
700 within two years. The first structure was quite small, 
and it was enlarged in 1711 and again in 1720. Three 
years later came to the building Rev. John Talbot, of 
St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, New Jersey. He wrote 
of his impressions: 

‘‘This place is my headquarters. When I can get any 
help, I send them to Burlington, but ’tis a thousand pities 

62 


fi ener are many older Protestant Hpiscopal 





CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 








this place should be destitute. Here are much people, 
and tho’ they are poor, they ought not to be lost for 
lack of looking after. * * * Iam not fallen out with 
my first love, dear Bur: but I have some pity of poor 
Philadelphia. ’’ 

In 1727 the foundations were laid for an enlarged 
building. Dr. John Kearsley, a member of the church, 
who was active also in arranging for the construction of 
the State House, later Independence Hall, was the archi- 
tect and one of the overseers of the work. Not until 
1744 was the main portion of the church completed, and 
the tower and steeple were not built until 1753-54. Some 
interior changes were made in 1836-37, but restorations 
later have renewed the original plan. The exterior of the 
church has remained practically unchanged for more 
than a century and a half. The pulpit now in use was 
built in 1770. The candelabra in the center aisle, planned 
for candles, were placed there in 1749. The baptismal 
font dates back to the original building of 1695, while the 
organ was built in 1765. 

When money was required for the steeple and for the 
bells that were to be placed in it, subscriptions were in- 
vited. Three hundred citizens of Philadelphia made 
liberal response, but the amount raised was not suf- 
ficient. Accordingly the Vestry met to see how best to 
raise the remaining funds ‘‘for finishing the Steeple and 
purchasing a set of bells.’? It was decided to do this 
by a lottery, a scheme for raising the sum of one thou- 
sand and twelve pounds, ten shillings, by a deduction of 
fifteen pounds per cent, on eighteen thousand Spanish 
dollars, commonly called pieces of eight, to be raised by 
the sale of four thousand five hundred tickets, at five 
pieces of eight each ticket. 

‘<The Philadelphia Steeple Lottery’? was advertised 

63 


a SDA DO NI NET een 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Lae ence eee ee eee 
at once. Thirteen men were appointed managers; of 
these Benjamin Franklin, who occupied a pew in the 
church, was one. These men were to sell tickets to all 
who came to the houses of the vendors. The drawing in 
March, 1752, did not complete the fund, and a second 
drawing was held. The tickets read: 

Christ Church Lottery 
(1) Class No. (7493) 
This intitles the Bearer to 
such Prize as shall be 
drawn against its 
Number. 

In 1754, soon after the completion of the steeple, Cap- 
tain Budden brought over from England a chime of eight 
bells for which the bill was £560 7s. With the bells came 
a man who had assisted in making them. He had asked 
the privilege of coming over to hang them, without ex- 
pense to the church. Captain Budden refused to accept 
payment for bringing the chimes. Because of his gen- 
erosity it was arranged that the bells should be rung 
whenever his ship, the Myrtilla, should come up the Dela- 
ware. But their most noted use was when they pealed 
forth in response to the Liberty Bell on July 4, 1776. 

The bells were removed for safe keeping before the 
occupation of Philadelphia by the British, being taken 
to Allentown, with the State House bell. Later they were 
brought back to the city and replaced in the tower. 
Within the walls of Christ Church assembled in a body 
the members of the Continental Congress, immediately 
after the receipt of word of the Battle of Lexington. 
They gathered with the people for fasting and prayer. 

Among other treasures of the church are a flagon and 
a chalice which were given by Queen Anne in 1709. The 
silver basin for the font, which weighs sixty-three ounces, 

64 





CHRIST PROTEST: 





YT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 
Erected 1727-1754 


VIHdTGaV1TIHd SHOWNHO LSHHO 40 WOIMALNI 


3 
| 
i 





CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 


was presented to the church in 1712. Visitors are shown 
also a wooden bust of King George II, surmounted by a 
wooden cross, which long stood above the eastern win- 
dow. These were removed after the independence of the 
United States was acknowledged by Great Britain. For 
many years they have had place in the tower room. 

The pew set apart for the Governor of the Province 
of Pennsylvania was later known as the President’s Pew. 
There sat George Washington, and later, at times, John 
Adams. Lafayette used it when he made his second visit 
to America in 1826. Francis Hopkinson, Secretary of the 
Continental Congress, and his son, the author of ‘‘Hail 
Columbia,’’ occupied pew No. 65. Henry Clay was a 
later worshiper in the building, while General Cadwala- 
der, who won fame in the War of 1812, held pew No. 55. 

Dunlop’s American Daily Advertiser of February 23, 
1793, contained this item: 

‘‘Yesterday being the anniversary of the birth-day of 
our beloved fellow-citizen, George Washington * * 
all the shipping in the Harbor had their colours hoisted 
out, and the bells of Christ Church rang peals every half 
hour, during the day.’’ 

For many years the burial ground of Christ Church 
was the lot adjoining the church, on Second Street, near 
Market. In 1719 a lot was purchased at Fifth and Arch 
Streets, and here most later burials were made. General 
Charles Lee, of the Continental Army, found his resting 
place near the southwest door of the church. Following 
the Battle of Princeton, General Hugh Mercer’s body was 
given honored place close by. The first Episcopal Bishop 
of Pennsylvania, William White, D.D., was buried within 
the building. In the churchyard were laid the bodies of 
Peyton Randolph, first President of the Continental Con- 

5 65 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








gress, Commodore Truxton, several Signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, including George Ross, 
Judge of Admiralty of Pennsylvania, who died in 1779. 
Eleanor, daughter of Nellie Custis (Mrs. Lewis), the 
daughter of Martha Washington, rests in the churchyard. 
Robert Morris, who did so much to finance the Revolu- 
tion, and afterward died a bankrupt, after long imprison- 
ment for debt, was honored within the walls of the 
church itself. 








IX 


THE GLORIOUS BEGINNING OF THE REFORMED 
CHURCH IN AMERICA 


REFUGEES WELCOMED IN PHILADELPHIA. THE PREACHER WHO 
MADE HIS LIVING BY ‘‘BEING GENERALLY USEFUL.’’ THE 
TEACHER OPPOSES THE FARMER. A CURIOUS BOOK TITLE. 
‘‘HURRAH FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON!’’ A HERO OF THE 
YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC 


thousands of the people of Germany fled to Eng- 

land from their homes in the Palatinate, a dis- 
trict in Germany, on the border of France, because of the 
persecutions of Louis XIV. With them were many 
Huguenots who had taken refuge among them when they 
were driven from France in consequence of the Revoca- 
tion of the Edict of Nantes. 

Many of these refugees were sent to America by 
Queen Anne. Some of them were sent to Schoharie, New 
York, in 1709, only to suffer indescribable hardships on 
the voyage, and disappointment and death on their ar- 
rival. A second company, bound for Philadelphia, was 
plundered on the way, and, when it was finally landed on 
the coast of Massachusetts, sent a plea to some of their 
brethren in Philadelphia for aid to reach Penn’s city. A 
third group was lured by promises of a wonderful future 
on the Mississippi River, only to be abandoned in the 
swamps near Mobile. 

But a fourth company succeeded in reaching hospi- 
table Philadelphia. On September 21, 1727, the sloop 
William and Sarah anchored in the Delaware River, hav- 
ing on board four hundred refugees from the Palatinate. 
Their leader was Rev. George Michael Weiss. 


[) tions: the first quarter of the eighteenth century 


67 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








Their first care was to find shelter. Their second de- 
sire was to have a church organization. Both wishes 
were gratified soon, though the church organization had 
no abiding place, and its people were compelled to be 
satisfied with very ordinary quarters for themselves. 
Both pastor and people had to face the problem of sup- 
plying the most rudimentary needs. How Mr. Weiss 
made an attempt to solve his difficulty is evident from 
an advertisement in the Philadelphia American Weekly 
Mercury of February 3, 1729: 


“This is to give notice, that the subscriber hereof, 
being desirous to be as generally useful as he can in this 
country, (wherein he is a stranger), declares his willing- 
ness to teach Logic, Natural Philosophy, Metaphysics, 
&e, to all such as are willing to learn. The place of teach- 
ing will be at the Widow Sprogel’s on Second Street, 
where he will attend, if he has encouragement, three 
times a week, for that exercise.’’ 


‘Sioned by G. M. Minister of the Reformed Palatine 
Church.’’ 


In other ways the members of the colony rrom Ger- 
many and their leader showed that they were eager to 
enter fully into the life of their adopted country. They 
appeared at the Court House in Philadelphia and there 
signed the oath of allegiance to King George II. His- 
torians say that they were the first immigrants to take 
this oath. 

But Mr. Weiss was not the first minister from the 
Palatinate to come to Philadelphia. He learned that in 
1720 John Philip Boehm had come to Pennsylvania, 
where he found many German Reformed people. At 
once he became active among them. He visited the con- 
gregation at Whitemarsh, which had been organized in 

68 








THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA 


1710 by Dominie Paulus Van Vlecq. This congregation, 
the ancestor of the Fort Washington Reformed Church 
of to-day, became the nucleus for a number of other con- 
eregations which Boehm got together in 1725, including 
Faleckner Swamp and Skippack. These were the first 
churches of the communion in Pennsylvania. In 1726 
he organized a church at Tulpehocken. Of the eleven or 
twelve churches founded by him, a number still survive, 
notably Falckner’s Swamp, located in New Hanover 
Township, Montgomery County. Among its original 
members were Frederick Antes, George Philip Dotterer, 
Jacob Meyer, John Berkenbeil, Sebastian Reifsnyder, 
and George Klauer. At first the meetings were held in 
the houses of the members, but in 1741 services were be- 
gun in a well-built frame church. 

Pastor Boehm had preached several times in Phila- 
delphia, but he did not organize the church. When the 
new arrival succeeded in doing so, the older minister felt 
that he had not been treated fairly. His opposition in- 
creased as Weiss began to visit the country churches, 
for Boehm felt responsible for their progress. Weiss 
opposed the work of Boehm, because, so he declared, the 
latter was an uneducated, unauthorized layman and a 
farmer. The result was a bitter war between the two 
men, both of whom seemed altogether earnest and sin- 
cere. On one occasion Weiss succeeded in driving Boehm 
from a log church which he had begun to build at Skip- 
pack. This Weiss completed in 1729. Later the leaders 
were friends. Boehm continued his unselfish ministry, 
organizing many churches, the last of these being that 
known to-day as Boehm’s Reformed Church at Blue Bell, 
Whitpain Township, Montgomery County. 

The short residence of Weiss in Philadelphia was 

69 


NR Ua na CRS OOES SORT SSR usny Nase UID Sunt nnvreNsmn SVEN OTS SO eee 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Lacon eee eae 
fruitful in the preparation and publication of the first 
Reformed book published in Pennsylvania. This was the 
fruit of the author’s observations as he traveled about 
the country, and his feeling that it was necessary to 
combat error. The curious title, as translated into Eng- 
lish, is a small volume in itself: 


“The Minister traveling about in the American Wil- 
derness among people of different nationalities and 
religions, and frequently attacked, portrayed and pre- 
sented in a dialogue with a citizen and a New Born. Treat- 
ing of different subjects, but especially of the new birth. 
Prepared and to the advancement of the honor of Jesus 
composed from his own experience by George Michael 
Weiss, Philadelphia, printed by Andrew Bradford, 1729.’’ 


Soon after reaching Philadelphia Weiss decided that 
the poor immigrants must have help from abroad if 
they were to build a church. So he sent to Holland an 
appeal in behalf of them and of the neighboring churches 
in the country for which he felt he was the responsible 
leader. And in May, 1730, he went to Holland to follow 
up his request for funds, taking with him Jacob Reiff, 
of Skippack, a business man, who had been in Holland 
in 1727. 

This letter to Holland, and the journey which followed 
it up, marked the beginning of a paternal relationship 
between the First Reformed Church of Philadelphia and 
surrounding smaller churches, a relationship which con- 
tinues to this day. 

The financial returns of the journey were not large. 
The net returns to the churches was only about six hun- 
dred and fifty dollars. Much of the money collected was 
invested by Mr. Reiff in merchandise which he believed 
could be sold to advantage in Philadelphia, for the bene- 

70 





THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA 








fit of the churches. But there were mishaps. For sev- 
eral years the goods were held in a British custom house, 
and were released only on payment of a large sum for 
duties and storage. Since the total amount collected was 
less than two thousand dollars, and since the expenses of 
the journey had to be paid out of the receipts, it is easy 
to understand why the net returns were so meager. 

During the absence of Mr. Weiss Pastor Boehm came 
into his own. For some years he served as pastor of the 
Philadelphia congregation, which continued to meet in a 
building owned by William Allen. The Lutherans used 
the building on alternate Sundays. But when the Luth- 
erans built their stone church, the Allen building was 
available for the Reformed people alone. They paid rent 
of four pounds per year for the building, which was lo- 
cated on Arch Street, adjacent to the Quaker burial 
ground. It is said that this was originally a barn. 

Help from abroad, together with the gifts of the grow- 
ing congregation, made possible the purchase in 1741 of 
a lot on Sassafras (now Race) Street, for a church, and 
_ of another lot in Franklin Square, for a burying-ground. 
The price paid for the latter was £50, and the seller was 
John Penn, Proprietary. 

The first building was not erected until 1747, during 
the pastorate of Rev. Michael Schlatter. This was de- 
scribed as ‘‘the new six-sided Reformed Church, on 
the Race place.’? It was a stone or brick structure, hex- 
agonal in form, with a hipped-roof, sloping from each of 
the six sides to the cupola. The cupola was also hex- 
agonal, with an arch-topped, narrow window on each side. 
Surmounting this was a ball, pierced by a rod projecting 
to quite an elevation, with the figure of a cock (the usual 
Holland symbol of a church) at the top of a vane. When 

71 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








it was first used, the walls had not been plastered, and 
there was neither gallery nor window. Yet it was mid- 
winter ! 

The first notable event in this new building was the 
organization, in 1746, of the first Coetus or Synod of the 
Reformed ministers and churches, the first regular gen- 
eral ecclesiastical body of the Church in America. 

In 1765 the congregation was chartered by John Penn, 
and in 1772, it entered its second building, on an enlarged 





“THE NEW SIX-SIDED REFORMED CHURCH’’ 


lot on Race and Hillsdale Streets. On May 1, 1774, the 
new structure was dedicated, in the presence of the Goy- 
ernor of the Province. 

During the Revolution the Race Street Reformed 
Chureh had. an honorable part in the struggle of the 
Colonies. Mr. Schlatter, who had been pastor until 1755, 
was living in Chestnut Hill. He had been a chaplain in 
the American Army during the campaign against the 
French in Nova Scotia. The British thought he ought 
to serve them as chaplain also, but he thought otherwise. 

72 


THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA 


For his refusal he was arrested and taken to Philadel- 
phia, which was then occupied by the British and their 
uniformed soldiers entered his home at Chestnut Hill. 
They plundered it, broke his furniture, threw his silver- 
ware into fhe well, and burned his papers. His sons 
served in the American Army. 

Dr. Casper Dietrich Weyberg, who was the pastor 
during the Revolution, became a marked man when the 
British entered the city. As the soldiers marched by his 
home, a son stood on the doorstep and shouted, ‘‘ Hurrah 
for George Washington!’’ This loyal attitude was char- 
acteristic of the family. A historian of the church tells 
how Dr. Weyberg preached to the Hessians, and boldly 
asserted the justice of the American cause. He laid such 
stress on the wickedness of the British oppressors that 
the invaders, feeling the effects in the daily desertion of 
the Hessian mercenaries, threatened the life of the fear- 
less man, and put him in prison. 

While Dr. Weyberg was in prison, the British occupied 
the new church as a hospital. When it was restored to 
the congregation, the cost of repairs was $15,200. The 
people of Philadelphia were glad to provide the amount 
necessary, for they looked on the Race Street Church 
as one of their Revolutionary shrines. They remembered 
that on February 17, 1776, the building was opened for 
a memorial service in honor of General Richard Mont- 
gomery, who had fallen before Quebec, Dr. William 
Smith, of the University of Pennsylvania, being the 
speaker. When many people in the city were undecided 
as to their course of action in the war, this action was a 
brave display of patriotism. | 

Twenty-three years later, when George Washington 
died, Major William Jackson, who had been Secretary 

73 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES | 


to the Convention which framed the Constitution of the 
United States, delivered in the church a memorial ad- 
dress before the Society of the Cincinnati. 

William Hendel, who became pastor in 1794, was a 
fit man to come to a church that had won such honorable 
scars in the Revolution. During the war Dr. Hendel paid 
frequent visits to a congregation in the Lykens Valley, 
although he knew that his life was not safe. He was 
guarded by armed men, both on the way and while he 
preached, lest the Indians, allies of the British, should 
surprise him. 

He was pastor at the time of Philadelphia’s second 
visitation of yellow fever, in 1798, described by a speaker 
in the Race Street Church in 1839, as ‘‘that season of 
pain and dismay, when our city was, for a time, con- 
verted into a Golgotha.’’ Then he continued: ‘‘You re- 
member the almost deserted streets, the fearful silence, 
which told you that the pestilence was spreading its 
broad, dark wing's over the habitations of men. You can 
recall the horrid preparations for the funeral. * * * 
Men of stout hearts were afraid to meet the coffins that 
were to be seen in every street, lest the deadly contagion 
might point the arrow next at them. Most of the pastors 
of the churches had left their people, and nearly all the 
wealthy habitants had deserted the city.’’ 

But Dr. Hendel remained, ministering to those who 
needed him, and he fell a victim to the scourge, as had 
his predecessor, Rev. John Herman Winkhorn, at the 
time of the first visitation of the fever in 1793. 

At that time President Washington was one of those 
who fled from the city. For some time he was a guest in 
the home of Dr. F. F. Herman, pastor of the Reformed 
church in Germantown (now the Market Square Pres- 
byterian Church). 

74 





THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA 


The pastors who became martyrs to the fever were 
buried in the plot in Franklin Square, which was used 
for a burial ground until the city restored the entire plot 
to the purpose made known by William Penn, in his 
original plot of Philadelphia—one of five squares pro- 
vided for the people. 

The Race Street Reformed Church, after an inter- 
mediate stay at Tenth and Wallace Streets, moved to 
Fiftieth and Locust Streets, where it is known as the 
First Reformed Church of Philadelphia. 





xX 
HOW NORRITON CHURCH BECAME HISTORIC 


A MENNONITE HELPS THE PRESBYTERIANS. WHEN DAVID RIT- 
TENHOUSE AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TOUCHED NORRITON 
CHURCH. BETWEEN VALLEY FORGE AND PHILADELPHIA 








of what is thought by many to be the second oldest 

stone building in Pennsylvania, the building long used 
as a meeting house by the Norriton Presbyterian Church, 
on the Germantown and Perkiomen Turnpike—which was 
called by the Indians the Manatawny Road—five miles 
south of Norristown. The tablet reads: 

Norriton Presbyterian Church, 1698. 

The date of the deed of the grass plot adjoining—1678—marks 


this place as the oldest monument of Presbyterian 
enterprise within the bounds of Pennsylvania. 


[- 1923 a bronze tablet marker was placed on the walls 


The plot of ground acquired in 1678 was used for a 
cemetery long before a building was erected. But the 
historic stone structure was probably placed by the side 
of the graves about the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, or perhaps as early as 1698. 

When Matthias Rittenhouse, father of David Ritten- 
house, made his home on the property which has ever 
since borne his name, he found the building there. He 
was himself a Mennonite, but he gave clear title to the 
church in 1737. He had bought from Isaac Norris, who 
had his deed from John Penn, Jr. Thus the church is 
the fourth holder from William Penn. 

The neighborhood of the church was familiar ground 
to David Rittenhouse, who was two years old when his 
father removed to the house which still stands, close to 
the church building, transformed into a delightful home 

76 





NORRITON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEAR PHILADELPHIA 
Erected, Probably, in 1698 


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NORRITON CHURCH BECAME HISTORIC 








by Herbert T. Ballard. There Rittenhouse had the observ- 
atory which he used for his astronomical researches. 
There, in 1769, he observed the transit of Venus, of which 
he made report in a document that brought him world- 
wide fame. Later, in 1770, he observed the transit of 
Mercury. These observations helped him to acquire the 
knowledge used when he devised his marvelous orrery, 
the mechanical appliance by which he showed the move- 
ments of the heavenly bodies. For its possession the 
University of Pennsylvania and the College of New Jer- 
sey became rivals. The latter institution was successful ; 
it paid him £300 for something still treasured in 
Princeton. 

Benjamin Franklin was a frequent visitor at the Rit- 
tenhouse home. Before the building may be seen the 
remains of an English boxwood tree, which the Sage of 
Pennsylvania brought from London for his friend. The 
two young men were probably numbered among the vis- 
itors at Norriton Church. 

Other visitors of note came to the church in 1777 and 
1778. When the Continental Army was on the march to 
Valley Forge, many soldiers dropped out of line and 
sought refuge in the building. Not only did it supply 
quarters for them, but it was commandeered as a hos- 
pital. More than once General Washington visited the 
building, once when he was stopping at an inn on the 
Skippack Road, in 1778. 

During the Revolution one of the prominent officers 
of Norriton Church was Ephraim Armstrong. As he lived 
but four miles from Valley Forge, and only twice as far 
from the British outposts on the edge of Philadelphia, he 
was in hot water. The surrounding country was subject 
to raids. So when Washington asked for a recruit from 
the family to help against the British, the father felt 

77 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


that he could not leave his eleven children. But his 
eighteen-year-old son Joseph enlisted in his place, and 
served so well that he was discharged with honor as soon 
as the war was ended. He was buried in the churchyard 
at Norriton. 

After the Revolution the Pennsylvania Assembly 
voted to permit the church to raise by lottery funds to 
repair damages done to the building during the war. 

Unfortunately, many of the oldest stones in the ceme- 
tery have disappeared. In 1844 workmen who were re- 
pairing the church decided that the flat gravestones were 
exactly what they needed for their work. So many of 
them were taken from their places, were broken, and were 
placed under the walls. The remnants of some of these 
stones bear the prefix ‘‘Van,’’ indicating that the first 
users of the cemetery were Hollanders. 

Thus credence is given to the tradition that a log 
church, established by the Hollanders or Reformed 
Dutch, was occupied on the site as early as 1660. Since 
these people were essentially Presbyterians, the history 
of the Norriton church seems to go back even farther 
than can be proved. In those days, as well as for many 
years afterward, the popular name for the church was 
Norrington. 

To-day Norriton Church is only an honored relic. 
In 1825, because of the removal of members from the vi- 
cinity, it was united with Lower Providence Presbyterian 
Church, four miles distant, which was founded in 1730. 
For many years services were held alternately in the 
two churches, but now all members go to Lower Provi- 
dence, except on special occasions when old Norriton 
becomes for a day the center of the congregation’s 
activities. 

78 


Se A a A LA Selly cl SO, 
XI 


THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH 
IN PHILADELPHIA 
HOW ELIAS KEACH TRICKED THE BAPTISTS OF PENNYPACK. A 
BITTER DISPUTE IN THE WELSH TRACT. WHEN THIRTEEN 
HUNDRED DOLLARS WAS WEALTH. A CHURCH IN A BREWERY. 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND THE ‘‘ELECTRIC FIRES.’? SHOULD 
HE WEAR A GOWN? 


crt i Rill ea ase cls AA Ra OLA 

HE first Baptist church organized within the bounds 
Tes Pennsylvania did not survive many years. In 

1684 Rev. Thomas Dungan from Rhode Island made 
his home at Cold Spring, between Bristol and Trenton. 
There he gathered about him a congregation which flour- 
ished for a time, then passed away. ‘'o-day nothing but 
a burial ground survives to tell of the early church. 

But Mr. Dungan should be mentioned here because he 
comes into the story of the early days of the oldest Bap- 
tist church in Pennsylvania still surviving, the seventh 
in age in the United States. His work may have passed 
away, but he was instrumental in Inspiring the man who 
was the first pastor of the mother church of the Baptist 
communion in Pennsylvania, New J ersey, New York, 
Delaware and Maryland. 

This is the story of his contact with Lower Dublin 
Church. In 1685 Elias Keach came from London to 
Pennsylvania. He was a wild youth, but for some rea- 
son he decided to palm himself off as a preacher. When 
he landed he was dressed in black, with ministerial 
bands. He must have presented a good appearance, for 
he managed to deceive the people to such an extent that 
he was invited to preach before the settlers in a district 
now called Lower Dublin, in Philadelphia, though it was 
79 








ee ee rene ere 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Se ee 
then called Pennepek, for it was on the banks of the 
creek known by that name (now Pennypack). 

Let Morgan Edwards, an early historian of the Bap- 
tist Church in America, take up the story: 

‘‘He performed well enough until he had advanced 
pretty far in the service. Then, stopping short, he looked 
like a man astonished. The audience concluded he had 
been seized with a sudden disorder, but, on asking what 
the matter was, received from him a confession of the 
imposture with tears in his eyes and much trembling. 
Great was his distress, though it ended happily. For 
from that time dated his conversion. * * * He heard 
there was a Baptist minister at Cold Spring in Bucks 
County, between Bristol and Trenton. To him did he 
repair to seek counsel and comfort, and by him he was 
baptized.’’ 

The baptism took place in the Delaware, one mile 
from Tullytown, at a place later frequently used by 
Baptists—a place with sloping bank, pebbly bottom, and 
a bend in the river, which gives a view up and down 
for miles. 

After the baptism Mr. Keach returned to Pennepek, 
and there, in January, 1688, he guided the Welsh settlers 
in the organization of a Baptist congregation. In the 
official record of the event it was stated that the time was 
the eleventh month, 1687-8. This was according to the 
old way of reckoning time, used by England and her Col- 
onies until 1752. By this method the year began March 
25; September was really the seventh month, and Janu- 
ary was the eleventh month. The old date of organiza- 
tion, therefore, was 1687, but the date by modern 
reckoning was 1688. 

Mr. Keach became the first pastor of the new church. 
‘Soon after the organization,’’ it is recorded, ‘‘the new 
emigrated Baptists in the province of New Jersey did 

80 





Fe once see, ents SABO SAA Ld Bef inl Aca Se ST BEEN ee 
THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA 


a 
join them, also those whom Mr. Keach baptized at the 
Falls, Coldspring, Burlington, Cohansey, Salem, Penns- 
neck, Chester, Philadelphia, and so forth. They were all 
one church, and Pennepek the center of union, where as 
many as could met to celebrate the memorials of Christ’s 
death, and for the sake of distant members they admin- 
istered the ordinance quarterly at Burlington, Cohansey, 
Chester, and Philadelphia.’’ 

The heavy work involved in this way was performed 
by Mr. Keach for but two years. In 1690 his successor, 
Rey. John Watts, took charge of the church and its out- 
lying interests. 

A startling event of his career at Pennepek was 
the arrival in September, 1701, of a company of 
sixteen Baptists from Pembroke and Caermarthen, 
Wales, who, on deciding to emigrate to America, formed 
themselves into a Baptist church, of which one of their 
number, Thomas Griffith, was named pastor. The de- 
voted little company—in which the typical Welsh names, 
Griffith, Edward, Thomas, Morgan, David and John were 
conspicuous—sailed from Milfordhaven on the ship Wil- 
liam and Mary. After three months at sea they reached 
their promised land. 

There they were ordered to go to Pennepek, where 
other Welsh Baptists would be found. For more than a 
year they remained there, but in 1703 they removed to 
New Castle County, then a part of Pennsylvania, though 
now in Delaware, making their home on the Welsh Tract 
of 30,000 acres which had been bought from William Penn. 

With them went some of the members of the church at 
Pennepek, though a few of their own number remained by 
the creek of the Indian name. Thus there was for a long 
time a definite relation between the two companies of 
Baptists. 

6 8] 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 





Under the leadership of Thomas Griffith, their pastor, 
the Welsh Tract Baptists, in 1703, built a meeting house, 
which served them until 1747, when a second and larger 
building took its place on the same site. This building is 
still in use. The record of those who were buried in the 
churchyard is one of the helpful documents of colonial 
days in Delaware. 

In 1706 came an event that may not seem so impor- 
tant to-day, though it was all important to the earnest 
men of the Welsh Tract. The lower church taught the 
necessity of the laying of the hands, but the Pennepek 
church did not hold with this notion. The dispute was 
long and bitter, but it was settled at length by a meeting 
held at the house of a Welsh resident in Radnor, who 
became one of the first members of the Great Valley Bap- 
tist Church. At first this was considered a part of the 
church of the Welsh Tract, though in 1711 it became a 
separate organization. 

The conclusion reached at the Radnor meeting—a 
conclusion that gave the Welsh Tract church its own way 
—was so satisfactory to the Pennepek church that Pastor 
Griffith was invited to assist in the ordination there of 
the successor to Mr. Watts. From there he went to the 
Jerseys, ‘‘where he enlightened many in the good ways 
of the Lord, insomuch that in three years after all the 
ministers and about fifty-five private members had sub- 
mitted to the ordinance.’? No wonder the Welsh Tract 
Baptists felt triumphant! 

That these were the days of large appreciation of 
small things is indicated by a statement made in a his- 
tory of the Welsh Tract Church, published in 1813: 

‘‘The Welsh Tract Church is very handsomely en- 


dowed; for after all the casualties which have befallen 
82 


spicata sent ae Set ole ISAS alo th eR 
THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA 
a 
its temporalities, it has about thirteen hundred and thirty 
dollars in funds, at interest.’’ 

The Delaware church grew and maintained its im- 
portance for many years, but gradually it dwindled, and 
to-day it is remembered chiefly because of its touch 
with Pennepek and so with Pennepek’s children. One 
of the most prominent of these was Captain John Rush, 
ancestor of Dr. Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration 
of Independence. The Captain’s widow was baptized 
at Pennepek on July 5, 1707, when she was about eighty 
years old. 

An important outgrowth of Pennepek church was the 
Southampton Baptist Church, in Montgomery County. 
This—the seventh Baptist church in Pennsylvania—be- 
came independent in 1745. This is the church in whose 
official minutes in 1768 was recorded the suspension of a 
member who cheated the pastor in the purchase of a 
negro! ‘Ten years later Pastor William Van Horn be- 
came a chaplain in General Glover’s brigade of Wash- 
ington’s army. After his return to his charge the church 
prospered to such an extent that it became known as one 
of the leading churches of the communion in America. 
At length it became necessary to enlarge the building to 
seat twelve hundred people. 

Pennepek, the ancestor of Southampton, had its first 
building in 1707. This building, enlarged and beautified, 
is still standing. In 1770 it was described, with wonder, 
as a building with a stove. Such an innovation was a 
novelty. Many people felt that a stove in a church was 
a bit of furniture for which the Devil must be responsible. 
Why should church-goers be comfortable? 

The building as it stands to-day is plain, but it has a 
dignity all its own. In many ways it is like a Friends’ 

83 


ne SOUR URS Lge eStock Se nnn es mn NE 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Se 
meeting house. It stands behind a wall. The two chaste 
doorways and the Palladian window in the second 
story add to its fascination for those who delight in 
colonial buildings. 

But long before the first building was erected, Pastor 
Watts agreed with the few Baptists who lived in Phila- 
delphia to go there from time to time to preach to them. 
John Holms, who had reached Penn’s town in 1686, was — 
one of them. Later arrivals included John Farmar and 
his wife, Joseph Todd, Rebecca Woosencroft, Wil- 
liam Silverston, William Elton and his wife, and Mary 
Shepherd. 

Arrangements were made by the first Baptist sympa- 
thizers to hold meetings in a wooden building on the 
Barbadoes lot, on the water front. A few Presbyterian 
people in the city also gathered with them, it being ar- 
ranged that the preaching on alternate Sundays should 
be first by a Baptist, then by a Presbyterian. 

In December, 1698, nine persons met at a house near 
the Barbadoes building, and ‘‘did coalesce into a church ) 
for the communion of saints, having Rev. John Watts to 
their assistance.’’ 

Practically this new organization, the First Baptist 
Church of Philadelphia, had an independent existence 
from the first, but until 1746 it was technically a part of 
the Pennepek church. At that time there were fifty-six 
members of the Philadelphia church. 

The minutes of the latter organization for April 5, 
1746, tell the beginning of the tale of separation: 

‘<The members of the church of Pennepek, residing at 
the city of Philadelphia, petitioned to the meeting at 
Pennepek for a separation for themselves, and for Mr. 
J ra Jones, the pastor of the church, also (his resi- 


LOLT P2}991] 
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VIHGIAGVIIHd “HOVId ADNVUDVTI NO ASNOH ONILAUW yaNvao NVINLIGM AHL 





eg Seeger BK TNT fora 8 a CaS SI RE RE OTN 
THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA 











dence being among them) to answer which the church at 
Pennepek took a month to consider.’’ 

That the consideration was fruitful for Philadelphia 
is shown by the record of May 3, 1746: 

“The church at Pennypek having considered the 
brethren’s reasons for a separation, and finding them to 
be of weight, a dismission was granted, and they were 
soon after constituted and settled as a regular gospel 
CRs ay"? 

The first place of worship after the organization of the 
Philadelphia Baptists in 1698 was at Anthony Morris’ 
Brew-House, near the draw-bridge, now the east side of 
Water street, near Dock Street. The owner was a Friend, 
but he was glad to welcome the Baptists until they could 
secure other quarters. This was done in 1707, when they 
were invited to assemble in the meeting house of the 
Keithian Quakers in Lagrange Place, just north of Christ 
Church. There, and in brick buildings erected on the 
same site in 1731, and also in 1762-3, the church was 
destined to remain until its removal to Broad and Arch 
Streets in 1856. The next move was to the present beau- 
tiful building at Seventeenth and Sansom Streets. 

The plain structure occupied had been built by the 
Keithian Quakers in 1692, soon after the separation from 
the regular Friends because of a disagreement as to ‘‘the 
sufficiency of what every man naturally has within him- 
self for the purpose of his own salvation.’? They took 
their name from their leader, George Keith. One of their 
early members was Thomas Rutter. They lived until 
1707. Then some of them became Baptists—Keithian 
Baptists, they were called. Others joined Christ Church. 
The property remained in the hands of trustees. The 
last survivor of them—also a member of Christ Church— 
deeded the old meeting house to that chureh in 1723. 

85 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 





When he died in 1734, the Vestry of Christ Church asked 
for the building. A lawsuit was the result, but the dif- 
ficulty was settled by the payment of £50 for the property 
in dispute by the Baptist occupants. 

Four years before this settlement gave a new lease on 
the Lagrange Place home, Abel Morgan, pastor of the 
church, brought fame to the Baptists and to the city by 
printing in Philadelphia a beautiful edition of the Bible 
in Welsh. When he died he was buried in Mount Moriah. 
His tombstone was later taken to the church, and it has 
been ever since one of the prized possessions of the 
congregation. 

The year 1733 was rendered remarkable in the his- 
tory of the church by the stand it took for religious lib- 
erty. The occasion was the coming to the city of a few 
Roman Catholics, who opened a chapel. Governor Gor- 
don, alarmed, asked the Council to look after them; the 
idea of mass being openly celebrated by a Catholic priest, 
within the limits of Philadelphia, was horrifying to him, 
for he felt it was contrary to the law of the land. But 
the Baptists came to the assistance of the Catholics. They 
pointed out the fact that all sects were protected by the 
laws which had been established by William Penn; all 
were equally entitled to religious liberty. Their conten- 
tion was sound, and the Council leaders refused to 
interfere. 

One of the prominent members of the church in early 
days was Ebenezer Kinnersley, who was assistant pastor 
with Rev. Jenkin Jones. His fame rests on two achieve- 
ments—his opposition to the preaching of George 
Whitefield and his followers, and his partnership with 
Benjamin Franklin in experiments with the ‘‘electric 
fires.’? He became a member of the American Philo- 
sophical Society, and was professor in the University of 

86 


ERIN ay a nS OO EL 
THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA 
Em fh a 
Pennsylvania. A memorial window dedicated to him has 
been placed in one of the University buildings. 

Among the early pastors perhaps the most famous was 
Morgan Edwards, of whom it has been said, ‘‘In his day 
no Baptist minister equaled him, and none since his time 
has surpassed him.’’ One of the most liberally educated 
of the Baptist ministers in America, he gave an impetus 
to religious education in the communion which is felt to 
this day. He was instrumental in building up Hopewell 
Academy, New Jersey, and, later, Rhode Island Univer- 
sity, now Brown University. It surely took some nerve 
to start a Baptist college when there were but twenty 
churches of the denomination in the country, with only 
2000 members. 

Dr. Edwards was given the degree of Master of Arts 
by the University of Pennsylvania in 1762. On April 30, 
1763, the records of the church had this reference to the 
grant: | 

‘““Mr. Edwards desires to know the sense of the church 
relative to his wearing the Master’s gown in the Com- 
mon services of the church; for as to wearing of it abroad, 
and on special occasions, (he said) he intended to use 
his right and own discretion. The Church desired him 


to use his liberty, and that wearing or not wearing it 
would give no offense to the church.’’ 


The most unfortunate thing about Dr. Hidwards was 
his partisanship of England during the early days of 
disagreement with the mother country. The Committee of 
Safety once wished to secure him as a dangerous per- 
son, but General Samuel Miles, later Mayor of Phila- 
delphia, succeeded in hiding him in his own home. Billy 
Edwards, one son, became a colonel in the British Army, 
but John Edwards, a second son, joined the American 
Navy. 

87 


Sy A Le cS ME AOI OS ea Ne 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ON SI 

Fortunately in 1775 the father retrieved his reputation 
by signing a renunciation of his Tory principles. Thus 
he made unanimous the adherence to the Colonies of the 
Baptist ministers of America. In this document he said: 


‘Whereas, I have some time since frequently made 
use of rash and inprudent expression with respect to the 
conduct of my fellow-countrymen, who are now engaged 
in a noble and patriotic struggle for the liberation of 
America against the arbitrary measures of the British 
ministry, which has justly raised their resentment 
against me, I now confess that I have spoken wrong, for 
which I am sorry, and ask forgiveness of the pastors, 
but I do promise that for the future I will eonduct my- 
self in such a manner as to avoid giving offence * ” 
and in justice to myself declare that I am a friend to 
the present measures of the friends of American liberty, 
and do approve of them and, as far as in my power, will 
endeavor to promote them.’’ 


Surely there could be no fault with a man who would 
make a declaration like that, and would live up to it! 

During the early days of the Revolution the pastor 
was William Rogers, a young man not yet twenty-one 
years old, though he had graduated from Rhode Island 
College three years earlier. His pastorate was short; he 
left in 1775 to become chaplain in the Continental Army. 
In that position he continued until 1781. During his pas- 
torate the famous Dr. Benjamin Rush became a member. 

The records of the church give a pleasing touch of 
Revolutionary history. At midnight on October 24, 1781, 
the citizens of Philadelphia were startled by the news 
of Cornwallis’ surrender. Next day the Philadelphia 
Baptist Association, which had been organized in the 
First Church in 1709, gathered at the church at sunrise 
to give thanks for the glorious success of the Conti- 
nental arms. 

88 


t 


THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA 


Unfortunately the coming of peace to the country was 
not accompanied by peace in the church. Controversy 
was still raging that had been stirred up in 1780 by the 
disagreement of the members in calling a pastor. Some 
wanted Elhanan Winchester, but others were just as 
insistent that a Mr. Heart should be the leader. While 
the final decision was to hire Mr. Winchester, the seeds of 
trouble had been sown. 

At first the new pastor seemed to please everybody. 
But after a time he was accused of doctrinal irregulari- 
ties. It was said that he taught the impossible doctrine 
that there was no such thing as endless future punish- 
ment. To this charge he agreed. 

Many left the church. ‘‘Ruin began to stare us in 
the face,’’ is the record left by one historian. 

There was a formal protest, an answer, and a lock- 
out by one party to the controversy, while the other party 
broke into the meeting house ‘‘by putting a Boy in at 
one of the wooden Panes, who unlocked the Door.’’ The 
lock was altered, and a new key secured. Then there was 
a public meeting to talk matters over. Committees were 
_ appointed by both sides to confer with other ministers, 
and secure their advice. Of one committee Samuel Miles, 
Thomas Shields, and David Brown were members, while 
on the other were John Drinker, Edward Middleton, 
Griffith Levering, and John Connelly. 

The result was that the protesting party declared 
itself the true First Baptist Church. To this decision 
the other party was finally compelled to agree. They 
were unwilling to adopt the suggestion of their oppo- 
nents that the matter be arbitrated by a Committee of five 
Episcopalians, five Friends, and five Presbyterians. 

The defection from the church of disgruntled mem- 
bers, following so soon after the losses due to the Revo- 

89 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


lution, depleted the membership of the church, but it 
grew rapidly under the ministry of Thomas Ustick. In 
spite of the yellow fever of 1793, 1797, 1798, and 1799, he 
brought many into the church. In fact, the plague gave 
him his opportunity. He was urged to leave the city 
and find safety in Bucks County. But he preferred to 
remain with his stricken people, although fever visited 
his own home. He worked side by side with Dr. Benja- 
min Rush, and succeeded in helping thousands. 

In later years the church has had a number of great 
pastors. Two of these were Morgan J. Rhees, brother of 
R. Rush Rhees, M.D., of Jefferson Medical College, and 
George Dana Boardman. 

Of the many distinctive achievements of the church 
during the second century of its history, the thing most 
noteworthy, in the minds of many, was the organization 
in 1814 of the General Missionary Society which became, 
later, the American Baptist Missionary Society. This 
society, organized in the Lagrange Place church, was 
made necessary by the determination of Mr. and Mrs. 
Adoniram Judson, who had gone to India under the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 
to change their denomination, adhering to the Baptist 
Church. There was in America great enthusiasm in the 
denomination, as well as great criticism of foreign mis- 
sions. But the result was the society whose delegates 
from all parts of the Kast decided not only to support the 
work of the Judsons, but also to foster the work of for- 
eign missions in other fields. 


XIT 


THE BEGINNINGS OF FOUR PROTESTANT 
EPISCOPAL CHURCHES 

CHANGING A GRAVESTONE INTO A CHURCH BUILDING. ST. 
PAUL’S CHURCH, CHESTER, ‘‘ONE OF THE BEST CHURCHES IN 
THE AMERICAN PARTS.’’ A PARSONAGE THAT WAS A REPROACH. 
RIVALRY IN MARCUS HOOK. THE NEW CASTLE RECTOR WHO WAS 
‘“CRATTED TO DEATH BY MOSQUITOES.’’ CONTENTION AS TO THE 
LOCATION OF ‘‘OLD SWEDES’’ IN CHRISTINA 


HE Swedish Lutherans did not have a church at 

Upland (Chester) ; they depended on the church at 

Tinicum Island. But they had services, probably, in 
the House of Defence, or Block House. Yet St. Paul’s 
Protestant Episcopal Church thinks of James Sande- 
lands, the wealthy Swedish proprietor of all Chester, as 
its founder. Though he died in 1682, the first building 
of the church was not in use until 1703. The story of the 
genesis of the building is unusual. James Sandelands, 
the younger, proposed to send to England for a memorial 
to be placed over the grave of his father. A friend— 
probably Jasper Yeates—suggested that the wall pro- 
posed for the grave, as a support of the memorial, be 
carried up until there was a church over the grave. 

In his journal George Keith tells of preaching at 
Christ Church, Philadelphia, while Mr. Evans was absent 
at Chester, with Rev. John Talbot, ‘‘who was to preach 
the first sermon in the church.’’ 

A record written by Mr. Evans in 1703 corroborates 
that by Mr. Keith. ‘‘In January last I was at the open- 
ing of a church in Chester. I preached the first sermon 
that ever was there, on Sunday, the day before the con- 
version of St. Paul, and after much debate what to call 
it, [named it St. Paul’s. This is one of the best Churches 

91 


Cer rr mera 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
eee ene ee see c a 
in the American Parts, and a very pleasant place, but 
they have no minister as yet.’’ 

In 1718 Rev. John Humphreys, who was in charge of 
St, Paul’s, wrote to the Society for the Propagation of 
the Gospel, in London, telling of his difficulty in securing 
a home in Chester. So he bought a plantation of one 
hundred acres about three miles from town, paying for 
it £150. ‘The Church people did attempt to build a 
Parsonage, but were not able to accomplish it,’’? he said, 
‘for it remains as it has been these 8 years, just about 4 
feet above ground, as a reproach to them, and an in- 
famous mark of their poverty.’’ 

The sequel to this complaint led to an advertisement 
which appeared on January 14, 1762, in the Pennsylvania 
Journal. This stated that, according to its standing rule, 
the Society would have to withdraw support from the 
church, if they do not forthwith make the necessary pro- 
vision for the better accommodation of the Missionary 
which the Society expects and requires, viz., a glebe, a 
dwelling house, and all church and burying grounds in 
decent order and repair.’’ 

Accordingly the church announced : 

‘¢They feel under the disagreeable necessity to apply 
to the publick by way of a Lottery not doubting that it 
will meet with all suitable encouragement, from the well 
disposed of every denomination, as it is intended for the 
glory of God and consequently the good of the Province. 
This Lottery is calculated greatly to the advantage of 
the Adventurers, the large prizes being so reduced as to 
make the small ones of more value than any hitherto 
exhibited to the public for the raising of so small a 
sum as £562.10.’ 

Before signing their names to the appeal, the man- 
agers added: 

92 





ST. PAUL'S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, CHESTER, 1703 
Bell Tower Added in 1745 


ied 


i 
Hai ted Ae 





ST. PAUL’S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA 


PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES 


‘*As the above sum will fall vastly short of completing 
everything as could be wished, it is hoped that if any are 
scrupulous as to this method of raising money, yet wish 
well to the Design, and are willing to promote the 
same, if such Persons will deliver their Liberality 
into the hands of Mr. Charles Thompson, merchant, of 
aiscern bine hee 

The names appended to the advertisement were: Rev. 
Richard Peters, John Ross, Mr. James Young, and Dr. 
John Kearsley, of Philadelphia, and Messrs. Roger Hunt, 
John Matthews, and James Day, of Chester. 

In 1849 the old church was torn down, and the corner- 
stone of its successor was laid. The beautiful building, 
occupied to-day followed in 1900. The cornerstone was 
brought from the Acropolis in Athens. 

When Rev. John Humphreys was unable to find a 
home in Chester, he bought land in Chichester (alias 
Marcus Hook, as he said). Perhaps he was attracted to 
that town by the fact that there, too, was a Protestant 
Episcopal church, whose story is of unusual interest. 

In 1699 Walter Martin gave to the people of Chi- 
chester a lot for a church and burying place. He said 
specifically that it was not to be used by ‘‘Quakers, or 
reputed Quakers,’’ and gave as one reason, ‘‘The 
Quakers have a meeting house of their own in said 
township.”’ 

Naturally there was competition to see who would 
secure the gift, by erecting the first building. Those who 
favored the Church of England secured an old frame 
house in 1702 and removed it to the lot in question. The 
small brick church was built in 1746 and was named for 
the donor of the lot. In 1719 this donor had been buried 
close to the building, with the message on the gravestone: 


‘‘The just man lives in good men’s love, 
And when he dies, he’s blessed above.”’ 


93 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








Another stone in the churchyard tells of Elizabeth 
Smith, who was born in 1699, and died in 1802. 

The first building was replaced in 1746 by a new 
church. The congregation which worshiped in this was 
thrilled in 1769 by the receipt of £66, a share in the pro- 
ceeds of a lottery authorized by the Province of Penn- 
sylvania, for the benefit of St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s 
churches in Philadelphia, and of churches in the country 
about the city. 

The churches at Chester and Marcus Hook were 
closely connected with Emmanuel Hpiscopal Church at 
New Castle, Delaware, the New Amstel of the Swedes. 
Their first rector, Rev. George Ross, preached also at 
Chester. | 

Some say that the New Castle church dates back to 
1689, though the building now occupied was not begun 
until 1703. Services have been held there continuously 
since 1706. The first pastor was Rev. Andrew Rudman. 
One of his successors was Rev. Thomas Jenkins, who, in 
1709, went to Appoquinimuk, Delaware, where he died. 
Rev. John Talbot told of the case in a letter dated Sep- 
tember 27, 1709: 


‘¢Poor brother Jenkins at Appoquinnimuk was baited 
to death by Mosquitoes and blood-thirsty galiknippers, 
which would not let him rest day or night till he got a 
fever and died of a calenture; nobody that is not born 
there can abide there till he is mosquito proof.’’ 

George Ross, the son of the second rector, Rev. 
George Ross, of whom a mural tablet on the walls of the 
church tells, was one of the Signers of the Declaration 
of Independence. George Ross’s daughter married 
George Read, also a Signer. The Read house is one of 
the show places of the pretty little city. 

New Castle’s more famous neighbor, Wilmington, 

94 








MANUEL PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE 
Erected 1703 





DOORWAY OF EMMANUEL PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE 





OPAL CHURCH, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 


’ 


OLD SWEDES PROTESTANT EPISC 


egun in 1698 


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PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES 
630aeoao$30—saooOh9naTwToooononaooT0N0N 
boasts an Episcopal church much older, though it was for 
more than a century a Swedish Lutheran church. When 
Governor Bunting came to the Delaware in 1642, he 
brought with him John Companius, the first minister in 
the region. After that the Swedes retained the country 
for but thirteen years, having to yield it to the Dutch, 
who could not be satisfied to see their rivals control the 
country on the South River while they held the New 
Netherlands on the North River. And before long the 
Dutch had to give way to the English. 

But through all these changes the church work begun 
by the earnest Swedes persisted. Of the few reminders 
of their stay on the Delaware the most remarkable is 
Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church at Wilmington. 

Governor Bunting was attracted by the peninsula 
between Christina and Brandywine Creeks, and on this he 
decided to make his settlement. Of course, a fort came 
first, but within the fort a church was built. The land 
for the settlement was secured by peaceful dealings with 
the chief of the Minquas. To-day the members of the 
congregation worship on the site secured so long ago, 
though during an interval of thirty-two years a second 
church building stood on Crane Hook, perhaps half a 
mile from the original location. 

William Penn had been in America sixteen years when 
Old Swedes was built. He was in sympathy with the 
eagerness of Gustavus Adolphus for religious liberty, 
which had led him to the sending of a colony to the Dela- 
ware, and he was in hearty accord with the Swedish 
method of dealing with the Indians. It was not strange, 
therefore, that the church founded so long before his 
coming prospered. 

Rev. Hric Bjork was the builder of the graceful old 
church of which the traveler entering Wilmington from 


95 


nnn EES sts 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Nee eee eee e ee a ee ee 
the north by the Pennsylvania Railroad has a fleeting 
but satisfying glimpse not long before his train halts at 
the station. In 1697 he was sent to America for the pur- 
pose by Charles X of Sweden. A few months later, in 
May, 1698, he laid the cornerstone. His ambitious plan 
was to erect a building sixty feet by thirty feet. When 
he was asked how high the church was to be, he said, 
‘The height shall remain uncertain till we see how it will 
compare with the other dimensions.’’ 

But the people who were expected to make up the 
congregation were more interested in what seemed to 
them the matter of greatest moment, the location. 
Naturally those who lived south of Christina Creek said 
they did not wish it to be north of that creek, since they 
did not propose to pay tolls in order to attend church. 

This objection was answered effectually when the 
people who wished the church on the north side of Chris- 
tina bought a boat which they presented to the south 
siders, that they might cross without payment of tolls. 

Latter-day frequenters of the roads about Wilmington 
have been reminded of those early days of Old Swedes 
by the pleasant custom of giving free use of toll roads 
to those who were on their way to or from church. Pos- 
sibly the objection to tolls on the part of the south siders 
has had an effect in these modern times. 

The dedication day, Trinity Sunday, 1699, was a gala 
occasion. From far and near the people trooped to see 
the wonderful structure on the site of the original set- 
tlement of the Swedes. Food was provided for them, 
since many came from a distance. The list of edibles 
provided makes the mouth water. Among other things 
there were five sheep, two calves, one quarter of venison, 
seven barrels of malt, six bushels of wheat, 400 pounds 

96 





PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES 








of flour, and three gallons of wine. Before and after 
the midday feast, services were conducted by the tri- 
umphant HKric Bjork who had carried the work to com- 
pletion in the face of the arguments of pessimists who 
said that it could not be done. His assistant that day 
was Rev. Andrew Rudman from New Castle. 

At first the building had a floor of brick. There was 
no gallery, and there was no belfry. When, later on, a 
belfry was constructed, it was so low that the sound of 
the bell would not carry far; the roof hindered the pas- 
sage of the sound. This had to serve until the building of 
the present tower in 1802. Older than this tower are 
the gallery, which dates from 1773, and the porches or 
side arches, which were built in 1740. 

The year 1777 was notable in the annals of the church, 
for in August and September two companies of British 
troops were quartered within the walls. On September 
8 of that year Colonel McDonald, the commander, told 
the rector, Rev. Lawrence Gircher, to conduct service 
for the soldiers. History does not record the choice of 
language made for the service conducted for the troops. 
Perhaps the rector had a sufficient command of Eng- 
lish to satisfy the men and the officers. But he was not 
sufficiently fluent for the taste of those who felt that the 
time had come to substitute English for Swedish in all 
the services of the church. When he was recalled to 
Sweden, the Vestry asked the King of Sweden to send 
in his place a rector who knew English. 

But before the request could be granted, a clergyman 
of the Church of England, Rev. William Price, of Mil- 
ford, was found available, and was inducted ag rector. 
From the day of his coming the services have been in 
the English language, and the old church has been iden- 
tified with the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

7 97 


nn Ge nn EEIEAEEESEIRESERSUENEE AEEEDOny aT 


XIII 


AMONG THE FRIENDS NORTHEAST OF 
PHILADELPHIA 


AT THE FALLS OF SAUCHICKAN. AN ARGUMENT AGAINST HEAT 
IN THE BUCKINGHAM MEETING HOUSE. SOLDIERS SHARE WITH 
THE FRIENDS. AT HORSHAM AND ABINGTON. BENJAMIN LAY’S 
POKEBERRY JUICE AND BLADDER DEMONSTRATION. RALPH 
SANDIFORD’S SUPPRESSED BOOK 


[Jp wnE ena in 
HE first meeting of Friends on the Pennsylvania 
side of the Delaware was held at the Falls of the 
Delaware called by the Swedish owners of the land 

the Falls of Sauchickan—even before Pennsylvania 

received its name. The members belonged to the Monthly 

Meeting at Burlington, New Jersey, which dates back 

to 1674. 

Then as early as 1683 there was a Monthly Meeting 
at the house of William Biles, in what was known as The 
Manor, because there William Penn had established his 
summer home on a vast estate on the Delaware, some 
miles below the Falls. There Friends from Bristol and 
Neshaminy (since 1706 known as Middletown Meeting) at 
what is now Langhorne, became members. William Penn 
and his wife were members, while Phineas Pemberton 
was Recorder of Births and Deaths. 

But Bristol Friends were not satisfied. In 1704 they 
were making requests to be permitted to set up business 
for themselves. This desire was not satisfied, however, 
until 1707. 

Then there was further delay in building a Meeting 
House—though in 1706 Samuel Carpenter had offered to 
give to Falls Monthly Meeting for the use of Bristol 
Friends, ‘‘a piece of ground for a meeting house and 
burying place, and pasture.’? The donor, a friend of 

98 





FRIENDS NORTHEAST OF PHILADELPHIA 








William Penn, was spoken of as the richest man in the 
Province. He was a merchant in Philadelphia, but he 
had a summer home on Burlington Island, and about 
1710 he became a resident of Bristol. 

A quaint record tells of prospective rules for building: 

‘“‘At a Quarterly Meeting held at Middletown, ye 22d 
of ye 12th Month, 1710. This Meeting having under its 
consideration the building of a meeting house at Bristol, 
it’s concluded there be a good, substantial house built, 
either of brick or stone.”’ 

A committee was appointed to take the dimensions, 
select the most convenient place, and compute the 
charges. Three months later the committee reported 
that ‘‘the charge of ye whole’? would be about £200. 

Again there was delay, probably due in part to the 
wish to build of bricks brought from England. But in 
1713 the committee reported the completion of the 
building... 

In 1728 a part of the structure had to be taken down, 
because it was faulty. Additions and repairs were made 
in 1735 and 1756. The building as it stands to-day is the 
original structure as altered. It is a typical brick build- 
ing, two stories high, with two porches in front, and one 
at the side. 

During the Revolution the Meeting House was 
occupied by the British as a hospital. The record book, 
under date September 15, 1778, tells how Joseph Church, 
William Bidgood, John Hutchinson, and Phineas 
Buckley were appointed ‘‘to get the Meeting House 
cleared of the troops in the little end of the house so 
that it may be fit to meet in.’? 

At the time Bristol Friends were trying to get per- 
mission to have their own Meeting, the Friends at Buck- 
ingham, a few miles from Coryell’s Ferry, on the Old 

99 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








York Road, were making preparations to build for them- 
selves on a lot given for the purpose, a sightly bit of 
woodland far above the road which was for so long the 
chief means of communication between Philadelphia and 
New York. First came a frame house, in 1720, then a 
stone meeting in 1731. In 1768 the new house caught fire, 
during meeting, from a stove, and burned to the ground. 
The successor was the Meeting House now used by the 
Hicksite Friends. This has been described as ‘‘a fine 
old fashioned stone edifice, two stories high, with a panel 
partition to separate the women from the men.’’ 

The building was used in 1777 by the British as a hos- 
pital. But on days appointed for Meeting the soldiers 
were instructed to put one-half of the building in order 
for the Friends. Many of the soldiers attended Meeting. 
Some of them were buried close to the line of the turnpike 
as it crosses the hill on which the Meeting House stands. 

When Washington was on his way with his army from 
Valley Forge into New Jersey he marched past old 
Buckingham. : 

One of those who attended Meeting here in the early 
days was Thomas Ross, a member of the Friends, who 
joined Meeting in 1730, soon after he came to the region. 
Later he was useful as a traveling minister, going to 
many Friends in the Colonies. In 1784 he was sent by 
the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting on a mission to Kurope. 

The records of the Meeting tell of the coming to the 
schoolhouse in the Meeting House yard of James Black- 
burn and Benjamin Ely, two merchants of Philadelphia, 
who were driven out by the yellow fever epidemic in 
1793. They kept store there until they could return with 
their goods to Philadelphia. 

The early travelers near the Old York Road saw two 
old Meeting Houses between Germantown and Bucking-— 

100 


ah 


sac em, gece apie 





INTERIOR OF PLYMOUTH M&ETING 




















PENNSYLVANIA 





suipuryg MoU JON 
“ASNOH DNILGAW NOLONIAVY GIO AHL 





FRIENDS NORTHEAST OF PHILADELPHIA 


ham. One of these is Horsham, just off the main road 
from Hatboro. This Meeting was settled in 1716, and in 
1721 the first Meeting House was built. The present 
building is the third house on the site. Like all Meeting 
Houses about Philadelphia, it is severely plain. The 
stone is carefully laid. The first story windows boast 
white shutters, while the windows in the second story are 
without such protection. A porch is on two sides of the 
building. Within the front room has been varnished, but 
in the rear room both pillars and pews are entirely with- 
out adornment. 

The second Meeting House is near Abington, between 
Jenkintown and Willow Grove. This dates from 1683. 
It is said that William Penn was present there more 
than once. The old Meeting House is at Meeting House 
Lane and Greenwood Avenue, a half mile east of 
Jenkintown. 

Abington and Horsham Meetings are connected with 
the story of one of the oddest characters of colonial 
_days—Benjamin Lay, who came to Philadelphia in 1731, 
when he was 54 years old, after years spent on the seas. 
In England his parents were Friends, and when he came 
to America he sought the Friends at once, though he had 
been put out of Meeting. 

Before coming to Philadelphia he was in Barbadoes. 
The sight there of suffering slaves led him to devote his 
life to a campaign to make slavery impossible. 

A book published in 1815 described the man, who was 
only four feet seven inches in height: 


‘‘His head was large in proportion to his body; the 
features of his face were remarkable, and his countenance 
was grave and benignant. He was hunch-backed, with a 
projecting chest, below which his body became much con- 
tracted. His legs were so slender as to appear almost 


101 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


unequal to the purpose of supporting him. * * * A 
habit he had contracted of standing in a twisted position, 
with one hand resting on his left hip, added to the effect 
produced by a large white beard, that for many years had 
not been shaved—lIt is singular that his wife very much 
resembled him, having a crooked back like her husband.”’ 

When he reached Philadelphia, he was grieved to see 
that slavery existed there. He expected better things 
of a city so beautifully named. So he made his home on 
the Old York Road, six miles from Philadelphia. There 
he lived his simple vegetarian life, and dressed in natural 
colored clothing of his own spinning. 

Except for the time necessary to supply his simple 
wants, he devoted himself to opposition to slavery. He 
visited several governors, and other influential men. But 
he made it his chief business to visit Meetings whenever 
he had opportunity. 

Once he appeared at the Yearly Meeting at Burling- 
ton, New Jersey. There he became the center of interest 
in the following manner: 

‘‘Having previously prepared a sufficient quantity of 
the juice of the pokeberry to fill a bladder, he contrived 
to conceal it within the covers of a large folio volume, 
the leaves of which were removed. He then put on a 
military coat, and belted on a small sword by his side; 
over the whole of his dress he threw his greatcoat which 
was made in the most simple manner, and secured it with 
a single button. Thus equipped, he entered the meeting 
house and found himself in a conspicuous position, from 
which he addressed the audience.”’ 

After his declaration of views, and his pleas to 
Friends to give up their slaves, he said: 

‘*You might as well throw off the plain coat as I do.”’ 
[Here he loosed the button, and the greatcoat falling 
behind him, his warlike appearance was exhibited to his 
astonished audience.] Then he proceeded, ‘‘It would be 

102 





FRIENDS NORTHEAST OF PHILADELPHIA 








as justifiable in the sight of the Almighty, who beholdeth 
and respecteth all nations and colours of men with an 
equal regard, if you should thrust a sword through their 
hearts as I do through this book.’? [He then drew his 
sword and pierced the bladder, sprinkling its contents 
over those who sat near him. ] 


At another time he stood in deep snow before the gate 
of Abington Meeting House, having his right leg uncov- 
ered. People told him of the danger, but he said: ‘‘ Ah, 
you pretend compassion for me, but you do not feel 
for the poor slaves in your fields, who go all winter 
half clad.’’ 

His views were given expression in a curious book 
he published in 1737. This he called: 


** All Slave-Keepers, That Keep the Innocent in Bond- 
age, Apostates, Pretending to lay Claim to the Pure and 
Holy Christian Religion; of what Congregation soever, 
but especially in their Ministers, by whose example the 
filthy Leprosy and Apostasy is spread far and near; it 
is a notorious Sin, which many of the true Friends of 
Christ, and his firm Truth, called Quakers, have been for 
many years, and still are concerned to write and bear 
Testimony against; as a Practice so gross and hurtful 
to Religion, and destructive to Government, beyond what 
Words can set forth, or can be declared by Men or Angels, 
and yet lived in by Ministers and Magistrates in America. 
The Leaders of the People cause them to Err. Written 
for a General Service by him that truly and sincerely 
desires the present and eternal Happiness of all Man- 
kind, all the World over, of all colours, and Nations, as 
his own Soul. Benjamin Lay.’’ 


Once he received in his home a visit from Governor 
Richard Penn and Benjamin Franklin. Setting food 
before them, he said, ‘‘This is not the kind of fare you 
have at home, but it is good enough for you or me, and 
such as it is, you are welcome to eat of it.’? 

103 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


When he was old, he moved to the home of a Friend, 
close to Abington Meeting House. While there he wrote 
a letter to Horsham Friends, appealing for care in 
regard to some of the things which were always on 
his conscience. 

Just before he died, he was told that the Society of 
Friends had taken action threatening to put out of Meet- 
ing those who would not dispose of their slaves. 

‘¢T can now die in peace,’’ he exclaimed. 

It is strange that, only a few miles away, on the 
Bristol Pike, lived a Friend named Ralph Sandiford, 
whose life was devoted to the same cause. He, too, had 
been a traveler. As a trader to the West Indies he had 
seen the evils of slavery. 

In 1729, he, also, published a book. It had a long 
title, similar, in this at least, to that given by Lay to his 
book. The beginning of that title was, ‘‘The Mystery of 
Iniquity, a Brief Examination of the Practices of 
the Time.’’ 

When a copy of this was seen by the Chief Justice of 
the Province, the author was ordered to suppress the 
edition, on pain of punishment. But he persisted in 
distributing it. 

When he died, it was found that his will gave ‘‘to the 
Meeting of Men and Women of the People called 
Quakers, at Philadelphia, each ten pounds for the use of 
the poor.’? He also gave ‘‘to the Church of England, 
for the use of the poor, ten pounds.’’ 


EEA BRE SNe TR a aE ETS Baan Eg ERA Ca 
XIV 


HOW MAIDENHEAD AND TRENTON 
NEW JERSEY, WERE LINKED 


A PASTOR WHO ESCAPED CONVICTION AS A HORSE THIEF. WHY 
MAIDENHEAD BECAME LAWRENCEVILLE. ‘‘THE LOTTERY OF 
THE INNOCENTS’’ AT TRENTON. A PRICE ON THE HEAD OF THE 
RECTOR OF ST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH. DID GENERAL RAHL BRING 
FAME TO TRENTON ? 


e6—60V—_e0ajD#}w>?nm—s0S0_—@>—wO0eqoowo=S$S$S$S$S$S=Saomomom 
66 N MARCH 18, 1698, Jeremiah Basse, Governor of 

Kast and West Jersey, and Thomas Revell, 

agents for the Honorable the West Jersey Society 
in England, conveyed one hundred acres for the accom- 
modation and service of the inhabitants of the township 
of Maidenhead, within the liberties and precincts of the 
said county of Burlington and the inhabitants near adja- 
cent, being purchasers of the said society’s lands 
there, for the erecting of a meeting house and for 
burying-ground and school-house, and land suitable for 
the same.’’ 

It is probable that a house of worship was erected on 
the ground so conveyed, but of this there is no record. 
Certainly a church building was erected for the use of 
the people of Maidenhead, for they had regular services 
before the close of the seventeenth century. 

The successor of that early building was the edifice 
erected near by for the Presbyterian church of Maiden- 
head. Of the thirty-six men who signed the deed for the 
land, John Hart was one. He was probably the grand- 
father of John Hart, one of the Signers of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, who was baptized in the 
Maidenhead Church, December OLA LAL: 

The early records of the Presbytery of Philadelphia 
tell of the fortunes of the infant church. The first regu- 

105 


non 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
on  ———————————— 
lar pastor began work in 1715. His successor was Rev. 
Moses Dickinson, a brother of Jonathan Dickinson, the 
first President of the College of New Jersey. He was 
also in charge of the Presbyterian church at Trenton. 

Rev. John Rowland, one of the ministers who received 
training at the Log College at Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, 
was pastor from 1738 to 1742. At one time he narrowly 
escaped conviction for horse theft. The story is inter- 
esting. While he was absent in Maryland, on a preaching 
tour with Rev. William Tennent, Jr., a man appeared at 
the tavern at Princeton, whom John Stockton, a friend 
of Rowland, called by the name of that minister. But 
the visitor was Tom Bell, a noted thief of the day, 
dreaded throughout the Middle Colonies. The mistake 
led the thief to plan a coup. 

Next day he went to Hunterdon County, to a section 
where Mr. Rowland was known. On meeting a member 
of a congregation to which Mr. Rowland had preached, 
he introduced himself as the minister. At once he was 
invited to be the guest of the local churchman, and to 
preach on the following Sunday. 

On the appointed day the family, together with the 
pseudo-preacher, were on their way to ehurch when the 
guest announced that he had forgotten his sermon notes. 
His host therefore sent him back on the host’s horse. 
Instead of returning to the church he robbed the house, 
then rode away with the horse. Wherever he went he 
called himself John Rowland. 

Naturally, when Mr. Rowland returned from Mary- 
land, he was accused of the crime. He was arrested, and 
gave bond for his appearance at Trenton for trial. The 
Grand Jury was charged by a judge convinced of Row- 
land’s guilt to find a true bill. Twice they refused, but 

106 





PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LAWRENCEVILLE, NEW JERSEY 
Part of This Building Was Erected in 1764 








{ 

* 
3 

* 
' 





FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, TRENTON, NEW JERSEY 
Organized 1762; This Building Erected 1839 


age rae Sabla) Re SEEN SL Re A Mh ci 8 hE 
MAIDENHEAD AND TRENTON LINKED 


re ene St ea ea 
when the demand was repeated a third time, the bill 
was found. 

Now the minister had many enemies in the com- 
munity because of his activity in the Great Revival that 
had been sweeping the country. So they were disap- 
pointed when he was acquitted by the jury. They suc- 
ceeded in having the case tried a second time, on the 
charge that one who had been helpful to his alibi had 
committed perjury. Later this man, convicted of per- 
jury, was sentenced to stand on the court house steps, 
bearing a placard on his breast, ‘‘This is for willful and 
corrupt perjury.’’ 

Fortunately, just in time, a man and his wife ap- 
peared who could testify that at the time of the robbery 
Mr. Rowland was in Maryland. 

The members of the church had anxious moments dur- 
ing the Revolution. Many of their number were in the 
army. More than once soldiers passed through the set- 
tlement. In 1777, at the time of the Battle of Princeton, 
troops of both contestants saw the peaceful village. 

The front of the church building occupied to-day was 
in use during those troubled days, it being a part of the 
structure erected in 1764. 

To the sorrow of many the distinctive name of the 
town was changed in 1816 by the Legislature. When the 
proposition was made to re-christen it Lawrenceville, in 
honor of the hero of the commander of the Chesapeake, 
the people were opposed by a large majority. Neverthe- 
less the change was made. 

During the Revolution the pastor of the Maidenhead 
Church, the Rev. Elisha Spencer, D.D., was pastor also 
of Trenton Presbyterian Church, which, though organ- 
ized in 1712, did not have its first building until 1726. 

107 


i RE eS 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
i  ———— 
The original church was rebuilt in 1805, and the present 
building dates from 1839. 

The first Board of Trustees at Trenton was a notable 
body. One of the number was Charles Clark, who, after 
passing through many dangers, died on the night of the 
Battle of Trenton from the results of a fall on his own 
hearthstone! Another member was Joseph Yard, whose 
name is perpetuated in the town of Yardley. Some have 
said that Trenton should have been called after him 
rather than after William Trent. A fourth was Abraham 
Hart, who was Postmaster of Trenton both before and 
after the Revolution. One of his commissions, as dated 
in 1764, was from Benjamin Franklin and John Fox- 
croft, Postmasters General of all his Majesty’s Provinces 
and Dominions on the Continent of North America. A 
later commission, signed in 1775, was from Benjamin 
Franklin, Postmaster General of all the United Colonies 
on the Continent of North America. 

A church document issued in 1736 was signed, among 
others, by Cornelius Ringo, whose family gave their 
name to Ringoes, New Jersey. John Porterfield, mer- 
chant, also signed. It is recorded that at his death in 
1738, he bequeathed one thousand acres on the Raritan 
River, ‘‘late received from John, Harl of Melport, one 
of the noble proprietaries.’? Henry Bellergean and 
Richard Seudder were ancestors of families long promi- 
nent in Trenton. Andrew Reed was the father of Gen- 
eral Joseph Reed, famous in the Revolution. 

Rev. David Cowell, an early pastor, who was one of 
those instrumental in founding the College of New Jer- 
sey, was also interested in education in Trenton. In 1753 
he sought for a teacher who was to be paid £25 a year and 
board. In May, 1753, a Philadelphia newspaper con- 

108 





EE ASSET A LSS OL ORSCIS) Eien ACRE TORE DST T APNG 
MAIDENHEAD AND TRENTON LINKED 
e6V6GaeS—c3a000—0—_—_0O_SsSsssseeee 
tained an advertisement connected with his early educa- 

tional plan: 


‘“We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, sons of 
some of the principal families in and about Trenton, 
being in some manner sensible of the advantages of learn- 
ing, and desiring that those who are deprived of it 
through the poverty of their parents, might taste the 
sweetness of it with ourselves, can think of no better or 
other method for that purpose, than the following scheme 
of a Delaware Island Lottery, for raising 225 pieces of 
eight towards building a home to accommodate an Kng- 
lish and grammar school, and paying a Master to teach 
such children whose parents are unable to pay for school- 
ing. It is proposed that the house be thirty feet long, 
twenty feet wide, and one story high and built on the 
southeast corner of the Meeting house yard in Trenton 
under the direction of Benjamin Yard, Alexander Cham- 
bers, and John Chambers, all of Trenton. The man- 
agers are Reginald Hooper, son of Robert Lettis Hooper, 
Esq., Joseph Warrell, son of Joseph Warrell, Esq., 
Joseph Reed, Jr., son of Andrew Reed, Eisq.; Theophilus 
Stevens, Jr., son of Theophilus Stevens, Hsq., John Allen, 
Jr., son of John Allen, Esq.; William Paxton, son of 
Joseph Paxton, Esq., deceased; and John Cleayton, son 
of William Cleayton, Esq. 

‘The drawing was to be held on June 11, on Fisher’s 
Island, in the river Delaware, opposite to the town of 
Trenton.”’ 


The advertisement of the sons continued: 


‘‘We the managers assure the adventurers upon our 
honor, that the Scheme in all its parts shall be punctually 
observed if we were under the foundations used in lot- 
teries; and we flatter ourselves, the public, considering 
our laudable design, our age, and our innocence, will give 
credit to this responsible declaration.’? 


There was a delay in the time of drawing, but on 
July 2, 1753, the ‘‘lottery of the innocents,’ as it has 
109 


RGM ADRUNREPEMUKE Nee Mi ire er Las OE 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Le 
been called, was concluded. The building for school pur- 
poses was duly erected. The minutes of the congregation 
show at regular seasons the choice of a ‘‘Director of the 
School House.’’? The building was taken down when the 
new church building was erected early in the nine- 

teenth century. 

The Presbyterian church and the Church of England 
(now St. Michael’s Episcopal Church) in Trenton were 
closely connected for many years. The latter church was 
first mentioned in fhe Presbyterian records when it was 
already many years old. A local historian says that 
neither of the churches was strong enough to maintain 
a pastor for exclusive service, so many held pews in both, 
that they might have a place to worship every Sunday. 
The same names appear on the records of both churches. 
Sometimes an office was held by a man in one church, 
then in the other. The call to a Presbyterian pastor 
bore the names of eleven members of the Episcopal 
church. Such a partnership arrangement existed in a 
number of places, as in Cranbury, New Jersey, where, 
in 1738, the Presbytery of New Brunswick noted that ‘‘the 
people of the Presbyterian and Church of England have 
a congenial interest in the meeting house, by virtue of 
an agreement between such of the Presbyterians as are 
interested in the building of it and their neighbors of 
the Church of England.’’ 

During the Revolution St. Michael’s Church was not 
opened for church services, but the Presbyterian church 
had a pastor, Rev. Elisha Spencer. For a time, however, 
he was absent from the city, and from his pulpit in 
Maidenhead, when Congress sent him to the South, to 
give them a better understanding of the cause of the 
struggle, and to urge them to take part. This fact made 
him very obnoxious to the British. A reward of £100 

110 


“ea 


oye Fach ea al a ian Wot ab st ee GAN aR NL ie a 
MAIDENHEAD AND TRENTON LINKED 
Se RE a ee al eae 
was offered for the head of the obnoxious pastor. An 
American officer, thought to be General Mercer, sent 
word to him that the British Army was approaching, and 
that he had better flee for his life. When he returned 
he found that his library had been destroyed, together 
with his furniture. Later the damage was fixed at £387 
by the New Jersey Legislature. When the Hessians were 
in Trenton they used the parsonage as a hospital, and 

did much damage to the church. 

General Rahl, who was in command of the troops 
which opposed Washington at the Battle of Trenton, 
was buried in the graveyard of the Presbyterian church. 
A lieutenant, in his Journal, wrote: 

‘‘He lies buried in the place which he had rendered so 
famous, in the graveyard of the Presbyterian Church.”’ 

Not far away is the monument to the memory of Rev. 
John Rosbrugh, a Presbyterian minister, who, after 
marching at the head of the men of his congrega- 
tion, became separated from them and was killed by 
the Hessians. 





XV 


HOW THE MORAVIANS CAME TO HAVE A 
CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA 


COUNT ZINZENDORF AND STEPHEN BENEZET, PREACHING IN A 
BARN. DRIVEN FROM THE PULPIT. A CURIOUS CHURCH BUILD- 
ING. FAMOUS MEN AMONG THE MORAVIANS,. CHOOSING A WIFE 
BY LOT. THE COUNTRY MINISTER WHO STRAYED INTO THE 
THEATRE. MATCHMAKING AT THE PARSONAGE, THE SOLUTION 
OF A HAUNTED HOUSE MYSTERY. FROM CHURCH TO BREWERY 





OST churches are organized as the result of 
definite purpose. But the First Moravian or 
United Brethren Church of Philadelphia was not 

planned by Count Zinzendorf, who is known as the 
founder. When he came to America in 1741 he was think- 
ing more of helping the churches then in existence to 
work in harmony with one another. When he organized 
the work at Bethlehem, to which he gave a name on 
Christmas Eve, 1741, he thought of it as a station for 
missionaries rather than a church. And at the home of 
his friend, Stephen Benezet, in Philadelphia, he said: 
‘¢T see no reason why (unless the Lord orders it directly) 
the Moravian order and church discipline should be 
introduced in this country.’’ 

The invitation of Henry Antes of Germantown to hold 
in his home a conference of workers of various com- 
munions was thus in entire accord with his views. 

But events were moving him toward a course he pre- 
ferred not to take. He preached to a mixed company of 
German Reformed and Lutheran adherents, in a barn, 
on Arch Street below Fifth Street, Philadelphia. There 
he associated with him an assistant, John C. Pyrlaeus, 
because he wished to be free to go to the Indian country 
to do missionary work. 

112 


THE MORAVIANS IN PHILADELPHIA 
Sanam 

One Sunday, during Zinzendorf’s absence, a crowd of 
ruffans dragged Pyrlaeus from the pulpit, and, after ill- 
treatment, forced him to leave the building. The cause 
was a dispute between those who favored the Lutherans 
and those who favored the Moravians. 

The only way to settle the difficulty seemed to be to 
have a Moravian church. Accordingly, when Zinzendorf 
returned to Philadelphia, he arranged for the purchase 
of a lot at the southeast corner of Broad and Race Streets 
(then, and for years later, known as Moravian Alley). 

On this lot there was erected in remarkably brief 
time a picturesque structure with a hip roof and quaint 
dormer windows. There were Separate entrances for 
men and for women, since, in accordance with Moravian 
practice, the sexes were to be separated. There was no 
provision for heat. In fact, there was no stove until 
1794, Then, because there was no chimney, the pipe led 
out of one of the windows into the yard. The audience 
room was on the ground floor, while a hall above was for 
communion services and love feasts. 

The foundations were laid in September, 1742, and the 
building was occupied in November. The church was 
organized on January 1, 1743, just before Zinzendorf 
sailed for Europe. 

From this building the Moravians, still mindful of the 
dream of the founder, did a marvelous missionary work, 
at twenty-five preaching places, both in Pennsylvania 
and New Jersey. The services were conducted, accord- 
ing to circumstances, in German, English, or Swedish. 
For the accommodation of the brethren who were 
engaged in this work, a parsonage was built in 1746. 

Among the famous ministers who spoke in the 
first primitive church were George Whitefield, Gilbert 
Tennent, and Bishop William White, as well as Count 


8 113 


RI Rabe Cr een ee eee een ee OTTIRMCAMEMEIET SEL eee 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ee 
Zinzendorf and Bishop Spangenburg, of the Mora- 
vian Church. 

The parsonage, too, sheltered famous men, among 
others, Benjamin Franklin, who was welcomed there with 
the Sachems of the Five Nations. 

From the beginning the church had on its rolls men 
who were or became famous in the city or the country or 
both. There were John Stephen Benezet, once a Friend, 
a leading merchant of the city, and Charles Brockden, 
for many years Penn’s Recorder and Keeper of the 
Rolls. Thomas Godfrey was the inventor of the quad- 
rant. Gustavus Hesselius was the first portrait painter 
and the first organ builder in the Colonies. Edward 
Evans became one of the founders of the Methodist 
Church in Philadelphia. Henry Miller, printer of the 
Staatsbode, was the first to give publicity through the 
columns of a newspaper to the full Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Joseph Dean was a signer of Non-Importa- 
tion Resolutions of 1765; during the Revolution he was 
a member of the Council of Safety and the Board of War 
of Pennsylvania. George Schlosser was a member of 
the Provincial Council from 1774 to 1776. Charles Stow 
was the man who recast the Liberty Bell; his name is 
on the bell to this day. Peter Helm was a philanthropic 
merchant, who was named with Stephen Girard because 
of his faithful service during the yellow fever epidemic 
of 1793. Captain Daniel Man, shipowner and importer, 
was one of the last men in the city to wear knickerbockers. 
John Jordan, a merchant, was the ancestor of people still 
prominent in Philadelphia. Zachariah Poulson, printer, 
was the father of the printer and proprietor of Poulson’s 
American Weekly Advertiser, the pupil of Christopher 
Saur, who printed the first edition of the Bible issued in 
the Colonies. 

114 





FIRST MORAVIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, OCCUPIED UNTIL 1819 
Rear Portion, the Church, Erected 1742; Clergy House Erected 1746 





SNA le Ss pact» alk Ad el OM We RH TOC a Ce 
THE MORAVIANS IN PHILADELPHIA 
a 

In the early days of the church foot-washing was 
practiced, though it was not obligatory. Many felt that 
it was the finest practice for them, because it taught them 
to be humble. ‘‘The kiss of peace’? was exchanged at the 
observance of the Lord’s Supper. 

For a time the practice of Casting the Lot persisted 
also. Disputes were settled in this way. Pastors were 
sometimes chosen, and matrimonial requests were decided 
by the appeal to the Lord. Ritter, the Moravian his- 
torian, says: 

‘Tf a brother wanted a wife, he made his wants known 
to his minister or the Conference, by whom—naming a 
helpmate—the question was submitted to the Lord in the 
Lot; if the answer was yea, it was well; if nay, another 
was proposed.’’ 

At first members of the church were supposed to 
abide by the decision of the lot; if they refused to do SO, 
or married without its sanction, they were excluded from 
the church. In later years, the rule was enforced only 
in the case of ministers, but after a while not even they 
were subject to its rigors. But for a period the minister 
who lost his wife had to return to Bethlehem, to allow 
a married man to take his place. 

Many times the wife of a pastor was credited with 
signal service for the church. For instance, in 1744, Mrs. 
James Greening organized a Sunday School of thirty- 
three children, who were ‘‘gathered from the neighbor- 
hood, to keep them from running about the streets, and 
to receive religious instruction.’’ This was more than 
half a century before the date of Robert Raikes’ famous 
school in Gloucester, England, usually looked upon as the 
beginning of the movement. 

Thirteen years after the Sunday School was started, 
the church secured its first burying-ground. A lot on 

115 


ew 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








Franklin and Vine, bought for the purpose, was sur- 
rounded by a board fence. But when the streets were 
graded, a high brick wall took its place. 

The historians of the church tell with gratification of 
the part taken by pastor and members in the Revolu- 
tionary War. Pastor Daniel Sydrick was present at the 
reading of the Declaration of Independence by John 
Nixon, in the State House yard. In his diary he recorded 
how he returned home with a heavy heart and many mis- 
givings as to the future. 

A number of the members entered the army, and some 
of them were officers. 

After the defeat of the American forces at the Battle 
of Brandywine, some of the members fled to Bethlehem 
and Lancaster, not wishing to be in a city under Brit- 
ish control. 

While the forces of the enemy were in the city, the 
church and parsonage were occupied by them, and were 
damaged to the extent of £87—a serious matter to the 
poor congregation. 

A few days after the evacuation of the city, Treasurer 
Hillegas came from York with the country’s money. 
Among his guard were many soldiers from the York 
congregation, who were entertained at the parsonage. 

Some time after the Revolution an organ was placed 
in the church. One of the official records tells how, in 
1787, the organist was reproved by a Committee of the 
church for bad and improper playing. The punishment 
was the closing of the organ for a season, ‘‘because of 
his determined disobedience.’’ That first organ was dis- 
placed in 1797, for an instrument made by Peter Kurtz, 
organist of Christ Church. For this £105 was paid. 

Many amusing stories of the early days of the church 
are told. One is of John Meder, an early pastor. One 

116 


THE MORAVIANS IN PHILADELPHIA 
Se 
night he had as guest in the parsonage a brother from 
the country. After supper the visitor went out for a 
walk. He was expected home at nine, the hour for retir- 
ing. But ten o’clock came, then eleven, then twelve. Long 
after midnight the wanderer returned. 

‘‘Dear brother, where have you been?’’ was the query. 

‘Why, I walked up one street and down another,” 
came the reply, ‘‘and saw in one of them a place all lit 
up, and I went in to see what it meant. It was very 
pretty, pictures changed from one thing to another, all 
sorts of dresses, moreover, and all kinds of queer doings. 
I stayed until they were done, without thinking of time.’’ 

‘‘Why, brother, you have been in the playhouse!”’ 
was the shocked conclusion of the pastor, who explained 
that such places were forbidden to good Christians. 

One of the early members of the church was Godfrey 
Haga, merchant. A clerk in his office, later his successor, 
was John Jordan. One day Haga said: 

‘John, if you wish to see a pretty Moravian girl, call 
on Mrs. C , where she is visiting.’’ 

The call was made, and Jordan met the pretty Mo- 
ravian girl, who proved to be the daughter of Hon. Wil- 
lam Henry, of Northampton, Pennsylvania. In a few 
months she became the wife of the young man. 

Among the early members of the church, the story of 
a haunt in the parsonage was told with bated breath. 
There was a noise of chopping wood from the cellar, and 
no one knew what was the cause. But at last a woman 
was found who was eager to investigate. One night when 
she heard the sound of woodchopping, she persisted in 
poking about the cellar and in following up the results 
of her investigation until she discovered that the wood- 
chopper was only water near the partition wall in a sewer 
outlet. The sewer emptied into the Delaware. And when 

117 














OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








the tide was high, and the wind blew just right, the 
ghostly woodchopper worked. 

The original church was used until 1819. The new 
church was built on the side of the old structure. But 
this proved inadequate. A changing neighborhood made 
necessary the purchase of a new lot, and the sale of the 
second building. This fell into the hands of a brewer, 
to the sorrow of those who were in sympathy with the 
builders, who refused to have a cellar beneath the build- 
ing, lest it be used as a storehouse for liquor! 

The new building was constructed at the southwest 
corner of Wood and Franklin streets, and on January 
26, 1856, it was opened to the congregation. 

Many residents of Philadelphia recall with pleasure 
the dignified two-story structure, with its buttresses, and 
the pleasing interior which seemed so out of keeping with 
the earlier ideas of the Moravians. But those who built 
it realized the necessity of making a church pleasing to 
those who were to listen to the preaching within its walls. 

In 1890 the old building was retired in favor of the 
present sightly structure on Fairmount Avenue. 





XVI 


GLORIA DEI, THE CHURCH BUILT BY THE 
SWEDES IN PHILADELPHIA 


SCALDING SOAP FOR INDIAN ATTACKERS. WHEN MINISTERS 
SEEMED LIKE ANGELS. WHEN THE ENGLISH WONDERED AT 
THE SWEDES. WHY GLORIA DEI’S PORCHES WERE BUILT. A 
PREACHER WHO TRADED HORSES. CATCHING A FOX BY THE 
EARS. A PROBLEM IN. WEDDING DRESS. CONTAGIOUS MARRY- 
ING. THE CHURCH OF EVANGELINE 








HEN Birch prepared his famous views of Phila- 

\\) delphia in 1800 he included in the volume a pic- 

ture which he called ‘‘Preparation for War.’’ In 

the foreground was a wooden ship on the ways. In the 

background was the building of Gloria Dei Church, which 
was then one hundred years old. 

The first colony from Sweden came to the western 
shore of the River Delaware in 1636. ‘‘Influenced by a 
desire to preserve among themselves and their posterity 
those principles of religion in which they had been 
instructed in their native land,’’ they ‘‘erected churches 
at various points for the public administration of God’s 
word.’’ One of these churches was at Wicaco, later 
Southwark, now a part of Philadelphia, the first service 
being conducted in the block house in 1677. This block 
house was built of logs and had loop holes in place of 
windows. To this block house some of the Swedish 
women fled one weekday when they were attacked by 
Indians. They took with them the soap which they were 
making when the Indians appeared. The savages fol- 
lowed them and began to dig under the walls. The scald- 
ing soap was poured out on them and they were unable 
to secure entrance to the building before the arrival of 
a rescue party. 


119 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








An early visitor to the congregation of Gloria Det 
was Rev. Ericus Bjork, a missionary who told in a letter 
of going on June 29, 1697, ‘‘to Philadelphia, a clever 
little town.’’ During his visit steps were taken to erect 
a new building. It was announced that £400 would be 
needed for the structure, ‘‘but that will not be difficult, 
they are so very glad to have us among them,’’ the mis- 
sionary wrote. ‘‘They look upon us as if we were angels 
from heaven. Of this they have assured me with many 
tears, and we may truly say that there is no place in the 
world where a clergyman may be so happy as in 
this country.”’ 

The same bricklayers and carpenters who had built 
the Swedish church at Christina (Wilmington), Dela- 
ware, were employed on the new church at Wicaco. 
Work was begun May 28, 1698. On July 2, 1700, Gloria 
Dei Church was dedicated in the presence of a large con- 
gregation, of whom many came ‘‘from Philadelphia.’’ 
Watson, in his Annals of Philadelphia, says that it was 
‘Ca oreat edifice, and so generally spoken of, for certainly 
nothing was the equal to it as a public building in 
the city.”’ 

A letter to Sweden written after the completion of the 
church called attention to the fact that the church was 
‘‘superior to any built in this country, so that the 
English themselves, who now govern the provinces and 
are beyond manner richer than we, wonder at what we 
have done.’’ 

In a sermon preached on the 170th anniversary of the 
completion of the building, Rev. Snyder B. Simes, then 
rector, said that some years after the church had been 
erected it was found that the walls had given way. ‘‘Some 
were in favor of strengthening them by means of iron 
work, but after consultation it was thought best to erect 

120 


Ft a ROTC BP 
THE SWEDES IN PHILADELPHIA 


we CR eh a 
porches on each side of the church, one of which would 
answer aS a vestry room, and the other for a vestibule 
or entrance to the church. This was immediately carried 
into effect, and the exterior of the church presents exactly 
the same appearance to-day as it did more than a quarter 
of a century before ever Washington was born, and three- 
quarters of a century before the Revolution took place.’? 

In the early days of the church the rector conducted 
his afternoon service in an unusual way. He was accus- 
tomed to walk up and down the aisle ‘‘to examine, not 
the children, but the adults, on their knowledge of the 
catechism, and to see how much they remembered of the 
sermon preached in the morning.’’ 

Among the prized relics in the old church is a curious 
carving representing two cherubs whose wing's are spread 
over the Bible. This carving, it is thought, was brought 
from Sweden, as was also the marble font that some think 
was used in the old block house. 

The bell, too, is a relic, for, while it was cast in 
1806, part of the material came from a bell of 1643. 

Rev. Andreas Sandel preached his first sermon in the 
church March 1, 1702, ten days after he landed, below 
Wilmington. At the close of the service he read his pass- 
ports and other documents to the friends who assembled 
on the green outside of the church gates. This was his 
formal taking over of the reins from his predecessor, 
Mag. Rudman, who had been on duty since 1697. 

The diary of this early minister has many odd entries. 
One told of a horse trade. Jean Kock succeeded in per- 
suading the parson to part with his old nag, as well as 
£4, 14s. for a horse he said was better. 

Again Mr. Sandel told of going to an island in the 
river where he saw the remains of the fort or redoubt 
the Swedes had built for their protection from the Dutch, 

121 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








to prevent their coming up the South Fork. But the visit 
was not so remarkable for the things seen as for those 
heard. For the Swedish minister came back with what 
he called ‘‘a funny story.’? Hvidently some one had been 
trying to hoodwink the guileless man. ‘‘A person was 
about to shoot a wild turkey, which a fox was trying to 
catch, which, seeing a man hid among the bushes, and 
supposing him to be another turkey, rushed headlong on 
the man, who caught the fox by the ears.’’ 

Among the most entertaining bits of the Journal are 
records of three marriages. On July 1, 1702, the first 
chapter in the first story was recorded: 

‘Went to see Nils Jonson to request him to tell his 
brother Jonas, who intended to marry an English woman, 
Anne Amesby, to request him to procure a certificate 
whether she had not been previously married or not, as 
she had come over from Hngland quite recently, and had 
been sold.’’ 

On July 7 he wrote: 


‘‘Harly this Morning rode down to Christine to see 
Mr. Bjork, and ask his advice if it ought to be insisted 
upon that the English woman should wear the usual 
head ornaments.”’ 

The pastor at Wilmington said no. At least the rec- 
ord says, ‘‘Negabat.’’ 

July 29 the story was concluded: 

‘‘T joined in marriage the first couple, viz., Jonas 
Jonson, a Swede, and Anne Amesby, an English woman, 
in the English language.”’ 

The second story tells of the marriage of the Christina 
pastor, who had come over with Sandel: 

‘‘July 15. Came Mag. Bjork with his intended bride 
to Mag. Rudman. 

‘July 16. Walked from Passyunk to Mag. Rudman, 
in order to again pay my respects to Mag. Bjork. Mag. 

122 





SCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 


GLORIA DEI (OLD SWEDEs) PROTESTANT EPI 


Built before 1700 


VIHd TAI Hd ‘ALVDING AHL JO DNIGTING AHL HLIM ‘YUVMHLOOS ‘HOUNHO HSIGAMS AHL,, 


€ 

































































THE SWEDES IN PHILADELPHIA 
aha 
Rudman and I escorted his sweetheart about the town, 
as she had not seen it before.’’ 

How the blushing maiden must have been thrilled by 
the sights of the infant metropolis! 

The conclusion of the story is written on Sep- 
tember 20: 

‘‘Tn a heavy rain I went down to Christina to say the 
banns for Mag. Bjork and his sweetheart Stina Stahlop, 
who afterwards was joined in marriage October 6th.’’ 

The heavy rain of September 20 must have been too 
much for him, since he took a cold from which he had not 
recovered by the wedding day. ‘‘Especially did I suffer 
from a severe pain below the breastbone,’’ he wrote, 
‘“so it was with the greatest difficulty I was able to 
marry them.’’ 

Evidently marrying was contagious. For soon Mr. 
Sandel was telling with nonchalance his own love story: 

‘61704, February 1. In the name of the Lord, I set out 
to offer myself in marriage (on the other side of the 
river) to Maria, a daughter of the late Per Matson (a 
Swede), and arrived there after dark. 

‘‘Webruary 2. In the morning I told the object of my 
visit, and she said yes, as did her mother. 

‘Hebruary 9. The banns were published the first 
time for me and Mrs. Matson’s daughter. 

‘Heb. 22. To Maria, Per’s daughter, I was married 
in the Lord’s name at Wicacoa by Mag. Rudman. The 
Governeur and a great many people present.’’ 

Gloria Dei, where Mr. Sandel and so many of his 
Swedish successors labored, is now a Protestant Hpisco- 
pal church. This change came in consequence of the 
agreement of the King of Sweden, dated June 25, 17 89, 
to the authority given to the church by the Pennsylvania 
Assembly to employ members of either the Lutheran or 
the Protestant Episcopal Church. 





123 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








But it was of the days when Gloria Dei was still a 
Swedish Lutheran church that Longfellow wrote in 
‘‘Hivangeline’’: 

‘‘Then, as she mounted the stairs to the corridors, cooled by the 
east wind, 
Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes from the belfry of 
Christ Church, 
While, interwrought with them, across the meadows were watfted 
Sounds of psalms that were sung by the Swedes in their ehurch 
at Wicaco.’’ 


Among the members of Gloria Dei whose name 
deserves to be remembered by a grateful country was 
Samuel Wheeler, one of the noted ironmasters of old 
Philadelphia. When General Washington remarked to 
General Mifflin that he wished he could have made a 
gigantic chain, to be stretched across the Hudson River 
near West Point, General Mifflin said, ‘‘I know a man 
who can make such a chain—Mr. Samuel Wheeler, who 
is now here, in the army.’’? So the ironmaster was sent 
for. To him Washington said: ‘‘I need a chain made 
to put across the river to stop the British ships. Can 
you make it? I will cheerfully give you dismission from 
the army. Badly as we need men, we cannot afford to 
keep such a man as you.’’ When the chain was com- 
pleted it was hauled, in single links, across New Jersey. 

The peaceful surroundings of Gloria Dei appealed to 
many dwellers in Penn’s city by the Delaware, for many 
made requests that they be buried there. One of these 
was Alexander Wilson, the ornithologist, who lived near 
Bartram’s Gardens, and taught school close to Gray’s 
Ferry. When he died in 1813 it was found that he had 
asked for burial in the grounds of Gloria Dei. His rea- 
son was that it was a silent shady place, where the birds 
would be apt to come and sing over his grave. 

124 





XVII 
AMONG THE NEW JERSEY FRIENDS 


FROM BRIDLINGTON TO BURLINGTON. A WEDDING DELAYS THE 
COMPLETION OF A MEETING HOUSE. A MOMENTOUS DECISION 
AS TO GRAVESTONES. FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF WEARING THE HAT 
IN couRT. ‘‘HOOPED PETTYCOATS’’ AND BARE NECKS IN DISs- 
FAVOR. THE WARNING AGAINST THE ‘‘STEEPLE HOUSE.’’ BUY- 
ING A HOUSE TO STOP A BELLMAN. THE CLERK WHO HAD NO 
WINGS. WHY JOHN WOOLMAN WENT TO EUROPE IN THE 
STEERAGE 








HERE were Friends in New Jersey long before the 

coming of William Penn. The first comers landed at 

the place now known as Salem. In 1667 others came 
to Gloucester. But the first Friends to settle in the neigh- 
borhood of what is now Haddonfield did not come until 
after the arrival of the Penns. Elizabeth Estaugh was the 
first there. Penn had sold land to her father, but when 
he was unable to come he sent her to represent him. 
With her husband she settled on the estate which was 
given her name. 

But the oldest Quaker settlement near Philadelphia 
on the New Jersey side is Burlington. At first the settle- 
ment was called New Beverly. Later the name Brid- 
lington was given to it, in memory of the Yorkshire town 
from which many of the Friends there hailed. The change 
from Bridlington to Burlington was easy. 

At first the Burlington Friends met with those who 
gathered on the east side of the Delaware, at Shacka- 
maxon (Kensington). 

But the first meeting in Burlington was held in 1678, 
and in 1692 the first Meeting House was begun. This was 
the pride not only of the Friends, but of all who lived 
near by. It would have been finished sooner, but for the 

125 


ge Ca eee 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ee 


second marriage of the man to whom the task of building 
had been entrusted. It was a curious hexagonal struc- 
ture, with high pitched roof, surmounted first by a lan- 
tern, and then by a conical finial. 

Within a few years the site owned by the Meeting was 
enlarged and a burying-ground was established. Those 
who had charge of it were instructed to obey a mandate 
adopted in 1706: 

“Tt is the sense of the Meetings that no monuments — 
either of wood or stone be affixed to graves, in any of 
our burial-grounds, and if any yet remain there that 
these be forthwith removed.’’ 

Later the rule was modified to what it is to-day. Then 
it was permitted to have ‘“simple unornamented stones 
at the head and foot of a grave, rising not more than 
six inches above the level of the ground, and containing 
- only the name and age or date of birth and death.’’ 

Soon there was question as to oath in the Colony 
of New Jersey. Should the Quakers be permitted to 
‘nsist that they would not take oath? was a live ques- 
tion. In 1713 the General Assembly decided that the 
‘¢Qolemn Affirmation and Declaration of the people called 
Quakers’’ should be accepted in lieu of an oath. 

There was also, for a time, bitter controversy as to 
the Quaker’s custom of failure to remove the hat in public 
places. The jealousy of the Friends as to what they felt 
an important part of their teaching, was indicated, when, 
in 1704, Thomas Atkinson wrote a note which is contained 
in the records of Burlington Meeting: 


‘Friends : when I was charged in the face of the 
meeting by Restore Lippincott that I pulled off my hat 
when John Langstaff was tried is not true, I have many 
witnesses to the contrary.’’ 

126 








FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, SALE! 


, NEW JERSEY 





AMONG THE NEW JERSEY FRIENDS 


The matter was considered so important that in 1705 
another record stated: 


‘‘Tt is the Meeting’s judgment that Restore Lippin- 
cott did not accuse Thos. Atkinson falsely.’’ 

In 1725 John Kinzey, a Burlington Friend, pleaded a 
ease before Governor William Keith of Pennsylvania. 
When he retained his hat, he was ordered to remove it. 
On his refusal to do so, the Governor ordered the court 
officer to take it off. 

But the Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting sent a pro- 
test to the Governor. The claim was made that personal 
liberty had been attacked. The result was the order that 
Quakers be permitted to wear their hats in Court. 

In: 1704 five young men were accused before the Bur- 
lington meeting of carrying arms. They owned to the 
charge, but explained that they had heard the rumor of the 
presence of Frenchmen at Cohocksink, and they added: 

‘*It seemed best for them that had guns to take them, 
not with a design to hurt, much less to kill * * * but 
we thought that * * * the sight of the guns might 
fear them.’’ 

In 1726 the Women Friends at Yearly Meeting at Bur- 
lington sent an address to ‘‘Women ffriends at the sev- 
eral Quarterly and Monthly Meetings,’’ as to ‘‘divers 
undue liberties that are too frequently taken by some 
that walk among us and are accounted of us.’’ Particu- 
lar mention was made of: 

‘‘That immodest fashion of hooped Pettycoats or the 
imitation of them either by something put into the petti- 
coats to make them set full or wearing more than 
is necessary.”’ 

The letter also condemned ‘‘Stript shoes or red or 
white heeled shoes,’’ ‘‘Superfluity of ffurniture,’’ ‘‘Tak- 


127 


BRIN EU a Rp ve TCI SME Al UR LEN NY WON MaCAast  lt Biche Nom a ae eR TO a ee SETI WET io 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
eae AANA TE TRANSECT WAL MOTION ES A dial) 
ing snuff or handing snuff boxes to one another in meet- 
ing,’? ‘‘Unnecessary use of Fans in Meetings,’’ and 
‘‘Bare Necks.”’ 

At first the Friends were supreme in Burlington. 
But gradually others came in, and St. Mary’s Church 
grew apace. But the influence of the Friends was too 
ereat to suit the rector, who wrote to the Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel in London of ‘‘the anti-Chris- 
tians who are worse than the Turks.’’ The Friends, too, 
were ready to exchange courtesies. In 1763, the records 
of the Meeting spoke of the ‘‘steeple house,’’ in warning 
Friends against its dangerous attraction. 

In 1775, when the stormy days of the Revolution were 
threatening, the Burlington Friends sent out a message 
recommending adherence to the principles of Quakers 
‘¢in the time of commotion.’’ 

After the war, it became necessary to repair the 
original Meeting House, which had been enlarged to care 
for the growth of the Meeting. In 1786 Daniel Smith, 
one of the Friends, wrote: 

‘¢Our Meeting House is now finished except the Steps. 
* * * A wall in Front and at the side of the Lot with 
stables we wish to have done, but a Way to accomplish 
it for want of cash does not at present open.”’ 

One of the famous members of the Burlington Meet- 
ing was John Smith, once Assemblyman in Pennsylvania, 
later King’s Commissioner in New Jersey. With his 
wife, who was Hannah Logan, he made his home in Bur- 
lington in 1748. He was a character of whom many 
stories were told. One of these is that one morning, 
when he was not well, and was eager to sleep he was 
disturbed by the bellman as he cried for sale Governor 
Franklin’s country place at Burlington, ‘‘If you will go 

128 


AMONG THE NEW JERSEY FRIENDS 


home, I will buy the property at the owner’s price,’’ was 
the plea of the harassed man. 

The Smith home was a hospitable place, and many 
colonial worthies were entertained there. More than 
once the famous Friends’ preacher, Thomas Chalkly, 
found his way to the house. 

John Smith’s father, Richard Smith, was the author of 
the ‘‘ History of New Jersey,’’ and member of the Assem- 
bly; he had an unusual family. In addition to John, there 
was Richard, who became a member of the First Conti- 
nental Congress; Samuel, who was a member of the New 
Jersey Assembly, delegate to the First Continental Con- 
gress, secretary of the Second Continental Congress, and 
signer of the first Continental currency; William, who 
married a descendant of Governor-General Jennings; 
Elizabeth, who was a preacher at Burlington, and one of 
the chief backers of the New Jersey Society for Helping 
the Indians. 

In the burying-ground of Burlington Meeting were 
laid the bodies of Dr. Joseph W. Taylor, founder of Bryn 
Mawr College; Samuel Hilles, first Superintendent of 
Haverford School, later Haverford College; Stephen 
Pike, once a bookseller, who gave up his store because he 
was opposed to pictures and the business was not profit- 
able without them. So he became a teacher, and the 
author of ‘‘Pike’s Arithmetic,’’ for years used in 
many schools. 

At one time John Woolman, the great Quaker 
preacher, was a resident in Burlington. Later he went to 
Mount Holly, and from there as a center he made his 
journeys to Friends’ meetings far and near. 

When he was at Burlington he had his own peculiar 
ways. Once, when he was Clerk of the Burlington Quar- 
terly Meeting, he refused to make a minute with which 

9 129 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








he felt he could not be in accord. When he rose to leave 
the room, a Friend said, ‘‘The clerk must not fly from the 
table.’? The reply came quickly. ‘‘The clerk hath 
no wings.’’ 

His conscience led him often into actions with which 
some Friends could not agree. For instance, when he was 
a storekeeper, selling buttons and trimmings, he felt 
that he ought to give up trade; it was too profitable, and 
was distracting his mind from more serious matters. 
Accordingly he told his customers to go to others to buy 
their goods. Again, when he was about to go to Kng- 
land, he refused to take passage in the comfortable cabin 
of the Mary and Elizabeth, because of the ‘‘imagery and 
many sorts of carved work’’ there. Instead he went in 
the steerage. 

The memory of such Friends was in the mind of John 
Russell Hayes when he wrote: 

‘‘T love old meeting houses; how remote 
From all the world’s loud tumult do they seem! 
Tslands of blissful peace to lull tired souls 
Tossed on the seas of daily circumstance 
And seeking friendly haven after storm; 


Sequestered bowers, sweet with holy balm 
To shelter and to shield.’’ 








XVITI 


HOW GREAT VALLEY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
PASSED THROUGH THE CENTURIES 

A LOT FOR ‘‘DESCENTING’’ CHRISTIANS. CENSURED FOR PREACH- 

ING. A PIONEER PICTURE. ‘‘GOATS I FOUND YOU, AND GOATS I 

LEAVE YOU.’’ WHY THE PASTOR WAS LOCKED OUT. BETWEEN 

VALLEY FORGE AND PAOLI 


N 1724 a deed for more than an acre of ground 
in the Great or Chester Valley was made to ‘‘The 
Society of Descenting Christians commonly known 

as Presbyterians.’’ 

The land was located in a forest glen at the eastern 
end of this remarkable valley, just where the road from 
Philadelphia begins to become rugged. 

The first settlers in the Valley were the Welsh; in fact, 
the name for a part of the valley was the Welsh Tract. In 
six townships in the valley they were especially numerous. 
One of these townships was Tredyffrin, or Stone Valley. 
This was the chosen site for the new church. 

In 1710, when the desire of the Welshmen for a church 
was brought to the notice of the Presbytery of Philadel- 
phia, there was but one Presbyterian church in the town 
—the First Church, in whose building the meetings of the 
Presbytery were held. A minute on the records of the 
meeting is curious reading: 

‘‘Upon information that David Evans, a lay person, 
had taken upon him publicly to teach or preach among the 
Welsh in the Great Valley, Chester county, it was unani- 
mously agreed that said Evans has done very ill, and 
acted irregularly in thus invading the work of the min- 
istry, and was thereupon censured. 

‘‘ Acreed, That the most proper method for advancing 
David Evans, in necessary literature, to prepare him for 
the work of the ministry, is that he lay aside all other 

131 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








business for a twelve month, and apply himself to learn- 
ing and study, under the direction of Mr. Andrews, and 
with the assistance of Mr. Wilson and Anderson; and that 
it be left to the discretion of the said ministers when to 
find said Evans a trial, and license him publicly to teach 
or preach.’’ 


There were two congregations interested in the pro- 
gress of Mr. Evans. One was called The Welsh Tract, 
while the other was known by the name, The Great Valley. 
In 1713, when Mr. Evans graduated from Yale College in 
a class of three, he was called to take charge of the Welsh 
Tract Congregation. Since the people of the Great 
Valley Congregation did not join in the call, they were 
authorized to form an organization of their own. 

In the meantime Rev. Malachi Jones, a Welsh min- 
ister, who was pastor at Abington, Pennsylvania, had 
been preaching in the Great Valley, in private houses and 
in the woods. He promised the people to form a congre- 
gation, and when they had received the permission of 
Presbytery to separate from the Welsh Tract Congrega- 
tion, they bound themselves for the purpose by a written 
compact dated October 10, 1714. 

A pastor of the church one hundred and fifty years 
later pictured the valley as it was at that time: 


‘‘The valley was then a wood country. The State of 
Pennsylvania was confined within the counties of Phila- 
delphia, Bucks, and Chester. All beyond consisted of 
unsettled lands or Indian hunting grounds. Wild beasts 
still roamed in the forest. The aborigines inhabited some 
of the native fields and villages. Colonies of them from a 
distance often passed by the site chosen later for the 
church, on their visits to Philadelphia. The roads were 
so horrible that a journey to the city was a very severe 
task. On the little clearings, which here and there 
appeared in the woods, plain wooden houses sufficed to 
shelter the inhabitants. They were made of logs, the 

132 


GREAT VALLEY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 


crevices between which were stopped with clay. The walls 
were whitewashed. The floors were earthen. The people 
wore homespun clothing. With the men deer skin 
breeches and deer skin facings to woolen pantaloons were 
the height of country fashion. The necessary linen and 
woolen clothing of the household was spun by the women. 
Everybody rode to church on horseback. The new-made 
husband and wife appeared in public on the same horse, 
the woman on a pillion behind the man. And when either 
came to be buried, the body was carried in a coffin on the 
shoulders of four men, who swung their burden on poles, 
as they went along the narrow way.”’ 

Five years after the organization of the church it was 
given to the charge of Rev. David Evans, the young man 
already referred to in this chapter. He succeeded in 
erecting the first church building, and he was an earnest 
leader for more than twenty years. But in 1740 he asked 
to be relieved of the church because of differences that 
arose in connection with a division of the Presbyterian 
Church into two parties, called New Light and Old Light. 
The difference was occasioned by a resolution of Synod 
which required that young men who had not received a 
college education in New England or in Europe should 
be examined by Synod in the branches of a collegiate 
education, before they could be ordained. The breach 
continued only seventeen years, but it occasioned 
much bitterness. 


That bitterness was not only in the pew, but in the 
pulpit as well. There is a tradition in the neighborhood 
of the church—so says the pastor-historian already 
quoted—that, before leaving, Mr. Evans announced that 
he would preach his farewell sermon. This drew a crowd. 
In brevity the service took the palm from Dean Swift’s 
celebrated charity sermon. It was this: ‘‘Goats I found 
you, and goats I leave you.’’ If that be true, says the 

133 


STRAIT NG rccnienien ate Coen Lp stab A 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
De ee eee a SS 
historian, the acerbity which so uttered itself soon passed 
away; for in two years Mr. Evans was prevailed on 
to address the ‘‘goats’’ again, and this he did in 

tender words. 

Great Valley Church was especially concerned in the 
controversy because of the call to Rev. John Rowland to 
succeed Mr. Evans. Now Mr. Rowland’s ordination by 
New Brunswick Presbytery was in direct opposition to 
the decree of Synod as to education. But the church 
was not united in its adherence to him. Let the story 
of what followed be given in the quaint language of H. 
Davies, who wrote in 1742 for his own children: 


‘“‘He was particularly distinguished by the voice of 
alarm. This rendered him obnoxious to the Old Lights. 
Like the old men in the spiritual conflict, they resisted that 
lightning which flashed conviction, and abhorred that 
thunder which disturbed their repose. The Old and the 
New were equally numerous in the session, and as the old 
man not infrequently prevails over the new, the old lights 
of the session gained the ascendant, and one Sabbath 
morning when the congregation was convened, shut and 
locked the door against the pastor, and precluded from 
the earthly sanctuary of God him who was faithfully 
striving to lead them to the temple on high. .. . He 
then preached in private houses and in the fields ’till his 
adherents erected a house of worship in the Township of 
Charlestown, about 5 miles distant from the one from 
which they had been expelled. Here he conducted the 
worship of the new lights, to whom he, till his death, dis- 
charged, with fidelity & zeal, the duties of a Pastor.”’ 


The new Charlestown church was built on land given 
for the purpose by a Friend, Job Harvey. The congre- 
gation remained apart for half a century. 

Freed thus from those who had opposed Mr. Evans, 
the Great Valley church called as pastor his son, Samuel 

134 





GREAT VALLEY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEAR PHILADELPHIA 
Organized 1714 





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, : im Fae 


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SSI ca 

GREAT VALLEY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
Nene ee ae 
Evans, a graduate of Yale College. The father, who had 
been driven from the church, preached the sermon on the 
occasion of his son’s induction. This was done in the 
hope that thus the earlier breach might be healed. But 
the hope was vain. 

Difficulties in the church increased with the settling 
in the valley of immigrants from Ireland, who were Pres- 
byterians. But these difficulties were solved by wise 
counsel and by the readiness to follow the counsel by men 
who realized that the dogged Welsh and the excitable 
Trish must and could dwell together in harmony. One of 
the ministers of that time of stress was Thomas McKean, 
father of Hon. Thomas McKean, who became a Signer of 
the Declaration of Independence, Chief Justice of 
Pennsylvania for twenty-five years, and Governor for 
nine years. 

The records of the church between 1771 and 1781 are 
not complete, but enough is known of the events of many 
of the years in this period to tell of the church’s service 
to the nation.. Valley Forge is but five miles from the 
church building; the heights occupied by Washington and 
his suffering army were actually within the bounds of the 
congregation, as it was at that time. It was but five miles 
to the scene of the massacre of Paoli. ‘‘That gloomy 
winter of 1777-78, with the sufferings of Washington’s 
little army, and that night on which, with ruthless bar- 
barity, the British troops heeded not the ery for quarter, 
must specially have touched the people of the Valley,’’ 
wrote one who was the leader of their descendants in the 
days of the Civil War, as he recalled the fact that, in 
the house of the pastor of Great Valley, was organized the 
first Soldiers’ Aid Society in the country during the lat- 
ter war. 

135 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








During the pastorate of Rev. John Gemmill, in 1793, the 
people built a new church, which was in use until the struc- 
ture now on the lot was dedicated in 1890. Mr. Gemmill 
later became a member of the Senate of Pennsylvania. 

Much more than a century has passed since Mr. 
Gemmill retired from Great Valley. But the church has 
gone on. Differences have been forgotten, and today the 
quiet of the Great Valley is typical of the peace in action 
of the Great Valley Church. 


XIX 


THE BRILLIANT CAREER OF ST. MICHAEL’S 
AND ZION LUTHERAN CHURCHES 


HE COULD NOT FIND A CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA. A CHURCH 
IN A CARPENTER SHOP. ‘‘WE TOLD YoU so!’’? A FAMOUS SPIRE 
THAT BROUGHT MISFORTUNE. A CHANGE OF BOASTS. SAVED 
FROM BRITISH SPOLIATION. DEATH TO THE GERMAN LANGUAGE. 
RICH IN REVOLUTIONARY MEMORIES. FIRE! IN MEMORY OF 
FRANKLIN AND WASHINGTON 


HEN Henry Melchior Muhlenberg came to Phila- 
delphia from Germany, on November 25, 1742, 
he asked to be directed to a Lutheran church. 

‘‘But there is none in the city,’’ he was told. ‘‘You 
will have to go to New Hanover, some miles from the 
town, if you wish to find what you seek.’’ 

But his visit to the country church only made him 
the more determined to supply the lack of a church of 
the communion in Philadelphia. Therefore, on Sunday, 
December 5, 1742, he gathered together the Lutherans 
to be found in the city, and preached to them. The ser- 
vice was held in the bare room above a shop near Fifth 
and Arch streets. Many of those who attended had to 
travel what must have seemed to them a long way from 
home, since the service was held not in the heart of the 
town, but on the edge of the western wilderness. 

Before long the way opened for services every other 
Sunday in a carpenter shop on Arch Street. The odd 
Sundays were reserved for the afternoon service held 
under the auspices of Gloria Dei Church, which felt the 
necessity of meeting the needs of the members of the 
congregation who lived in that far-away quarter. 

Then a church was organized, though there were 

137 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








among the one hundred members but seven men to fill 
the eight offices. 

‘‘But how can a little company of poor people build 
the church you want?’’? some of the fearful men and 
women said to Muhlenberg and his associates. 

Undismayed by this timid attitude, the leaders, on 
Sunday, January 23, 1743, asked them to make known 
the amounts they could pledge to the proposed building. 
To the amazement of the people, £120 was promised after 
the preaching of a rousing sermon. 

No time was lost in preparation. In March the com- 
mittee in charge secured a lot on Fifth Street above Arch 
Street, between Cherry and Appletree. On April 5 the 
cornerstone was laid by Dr. Muhlenberg. In the service 
the Swedish pastor of Gloria Dei had part. 

‘CWe told you so!’ was the comforting word of some 
of those who had doubted the possibility of building a 
church, when funds were exhausted. ‘‘How are we to pay 
the workmen? And how are we to secure material? We 
have no money, and we cannot count on credit. Aside 
from the lot, there is nothing which we can pledge for 
the necessary cash.”’ 

But in the nick of time William Allen, Dr. Kearsley, 
Thomas Lawrence, and a Mr. Ross said they would 
advance £700, on the promise of the members to pay. 
The church historian records the fact that Bernard Her- 
man, Johann Heinrich Keppels, Johann David Seckle, 
and Heinrich Miller offered their bodies in pledge that 
the loan would be repaid. 

Conditions were favorable for work that summer, and 
on November 20, 1743, it was possible to hold the first 
service in a building 70 x 45 x 36 feet. The main entrance 
was on Fifth Street. It was surmounted by a famous 

138 





CAREER OF ST. MICHAEL’S AND ZION 





wooden spire that rose to a height of fifty feet above 
the roof. 

That spire proved an unfortunate bit of display. 
According to Julius F. Sachse, it ‘‘was hurried to com- 
pletion before the walls were dry, or even a door or a 
window placed in the church—to forestall the Moravians, 
who were building a church on Race Street, near Sec- 
ond.’’? But the jubilation of the Lutherans was brief. For 
the steeple was too heavy for its supports, and the work- 
manship was poor. The rain which leaked through the 
steeple, added to its weight, caused a disquieting bulging 
of the walls. 

Something had to be done at once to save the build- 
ing. In an attempt to solve the difficulty the side walls 
were strengthened by the addition of supporting por- 
tals. These additions were not unpleasing, for they gave 
to the building the shape of a cross. ‘But even this 
change proved unsatisfactory, and it became necessary, 
in 1750, to remove the steeple. 

The extra expense caused by the building of the por- 
tals much delayed the completion of the building. Until 
1748 the windows were closed by boards, openings being 
left in them for light and air. Hach opening was large in 
summer, and much smaller in winter. Of course, the 
storms of winter entered unpleasantly. It is recorded 
that when Pastor Brunnholz preached his first sermon 
in January, 1745, the snow persisted in drifting through 
the window, lodging upon the Bible before him. That 
day he had introduced a new gesture—that required to 
push away the little drifts of snow. 

On August 17, 1748, the building was consecrated. 
This was at the time of the meeting of the first Synod 
held in the province. 

After the completion of the church the congregation 

139 


ERAN 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Lene a eee eee eer eee en 
increased rapidly. Soon galleries were necessary. An 
organ loft also was built, the entrance from the old 
tower being used for the pipes. An organ was brought 
from Germany, in 1750. With it came Gottlieb Mittel- 
berger, who, after erecting it, remained as its organist, 
as well as the teacher of the school conducted by the 
church for the children of the members. These members 
consoled themselves for the loss of their beloved tower 
by the knowledge that they possessed the largest and » 
finest organ in the Colonies. 

The congregation continued to grow, and by 1761 it 
was a serious question as to the future. Should the 
church be divided? The pastor, Johann Friedrich Hand- 
schuh, was unable to cope with the difficulty. So Dr. 
Muhlenberg came from Trappe to advise with them. As 
a result of his counsel 270 members, on October 17, 1762, 
signed an application to Governor Penn for a charter. 
This was granted, to ‘‘The Rector, Vestrymen and 
Church-wardens of the German Lutheran Congregation 
in and near Philadelphia.’’? The charter gave the privi- 
lege of erecting and supporting other churches within 
the said city of Philadelphia and Liberties thereof. 

Dr. Muhlenberg was named as Rector, and for years 
he continued to guide the affairs of the congregation, 
advising with the pastor chosen from time to time. 

The problem before the growing church was solved, 
not by dividing the congregation, but by building Zion 
Church, for the use of that part of St. Michael’s Church 
which chose to attend services there. The new build- 
ing was arranged for between 17 65 and 1770. 

When the British occupied Philadelphia, St. Michael’s 
was used by them as a garrison church, the house on 
Sunday being divided between the soldiers and the con- 

140 





INTERIOR OF ST. MICHAEL'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 
Erected 1743; Demolished 1872 


syoarg AdJayD pure yynoy ye Apeuo0 yg 
VIHdTAGVIIHd ‘HOHNHO NVUAHLOAT NVAYHD NOIZ 








CAREER OF ST. MICHAEL'S AND ZION 








gregation. This proved a fortunate arrangement, for 
the church was not injured. 

Soon after the Revolution began the inevitable con- 
troversy concerning the language to be used in the 
church. Up to that time German had been employed. 
But the young people realized that the days of German 
speaking were numbered. There was much feeling. 
More than once the contending parties came to blows. 
In 1814 there was even a trial before the civil court. 
Twice the English party seceded, forming, first, St. 
John’s Church, which was built on Race Street, between 
Fifth and Sixth Streets, and, second, St. Matthew’s 
Church, whose house was on New Street, below Fourth. 

But the result was inevitable. At the death of Rev. 
Johann Helmuth, who was pastor from 1779 to 1821, 
English-speaking pastors were secured. He was the 
twelfth and last of those sent to the church from Germany. 

As the years passed, Zion Church became more 
important as a center of the life of the congregation, St. 
Michael’s being used largely for week-day services, and 
services for children. 

But when Zion Church was sold in 1868, the congre- 
gation returned for a time to the original building, until 
this also was sold, and it became necessary to find a 
home elsewhere. 

The passing of the building used by Zion Church for 
a century marked an epoch in the ecclesiastical life of 
the city. Of it Dr. Sachse once wrote: 

‘Of all the historical buildings in Philadelphia, except 
the State House, not one is as rich in Revolutionary mem- 
ories. Until 1870 it stood at the southeast corner of 
Fourth and Cherry Streets—a structure majestic in its 
simplicity, grand in proportions, venerable in appear- 
ance, within whose quiet black-and-red brick walls, under 

141 


Le 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








the snow-white canopy of its vaulted roof, there were, on 
frequent occasions, during the colonial period, more 
prominent people assembled than in any other building 
in the Colonies.’’ 

The lot on which the building stood was bought for 
£1540 or $4106. Those who paid for the ground and the 
building were comparatively poor people. Many of them 
on their arrival in America, had to be sold as Redemp- 
tioners, in order to pay for their passage. But they 
managed to pay for a church which was, for years, the 
largest in North America. The dimensions were 108 
feet by 70. Originally the plan was to add a tower three 
hundred feet high, but this arrangement was never 
carried out. 

When the church was dedicated, on June 25, 1769, 
there was a wonderfully impressive procession from St. 
Michael’s Church to the new structure. Bells pealed, 
choirs sang, and trombones played during the march 
from Fifth and Arch to Fourth and Cherry. 

The first severe trial of the new church came when 
the British Army was in Philadelphia in 1777. The pas- 
tor, Rev. J. C. Kunze, begged Gen. Knyphausen to spare 
Zion Church. The reply was a demand for the property. 
When this was refused, possession was taken on Novem- 
ber 22,1777. The large building, without its pews, gave 
just the floor space needed for a hospital. 

The adaptability of the building for the purpose 
appealed to the Americans when the city was in their 
hands once more, and it was so used until 1781. 

Muhlenberg mourned over his ‘‘desolate Zion,’’ but 
he inspired the people to such prompt action that on 
December 13, 1781, it was possible to reopen it for a 
thanksgiving service for the victory over Cornwallis. 
Congress, the Pennsylvania Assembly, and the Provincial 

142 





CAREER OF ST. MICHAEL’S AND ZION 








Council gathered in the church, together with leaders in 
the army and in the city government. It is believed that 
the sermon was preached by Rev. Frederick Augustus 
Muhlenberg, the Speaker of the Assembly. 

In 1790, the final touch was put to the renewed 
building, by the erection of the largest organ on the con- 
tinent. This was built by the famous Moravian Tan- 
nenbaum. It had 2000 pipes and three banks of keys, and 
cost $10,000. 

The great event in the building thus completed was 
the service in 1791, in memory of Benjamin Franklin. 
The speaker on the occasion was William Smith, D.D., 
Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, while the 
service was in charge of the American Philosophical 
Society. Among the dignitaries: present were President 
and Mrs. Washington, Vice-President and Mrs. Adams, 
the Senate and House of Representatives, the Governor 
and Legislature of Pennsylvania. 

Then came disaster. First the yellow fever of 1793 
claimed 625 of the members of the congregation in two 
months’ time. And on December 26, 1794, the building 
caught fire from a box in the vestry room in which hot 
ashes had been placed. It might have been saved if all 
who were attracted by the blaze had been willing to fight 
it. But, while many joined the line of the bucket brigade, 
others who thought this in accordance with the indiffer- 
ence to religion imported from France, refused to help. 

On the old foundation rose a new building. This was 
dedicated on November 27, 1796, so was ready in ample 
time for the greatest event in the history of the church, 
the funeral service of George Washington, held on Decem- 
ber 26, 1799. The six sergeants who carried the bier to 
the church were preceded by soldiers led by General 
McPherson. After the bier came the orator of the day, 

143 


ae ae nee EE 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
mee ——aa—«_o_— => 
General Henry Lee (Light Horse Harry), father of Gen- 
eral Robert E. Lee. Next came the Senate, the Judges, 
the heads of Departments, Members of the House, the 
State Society of the Cincinnati, and the Grand Lodge of 
Masons of Pennsylvania. 

Then, in the presence of President Adams and his 
family, and the diplomats from foreign governments, 
Bishop White of the Protestant Episcopal Church con- 
ducted the memorable service, while the orator of the 
day characterized Washington, for the first time, in pub- 
lic, as ‘‘First in War, First in Peace, and First in the 
Hearts of his Countrymen.’’ It was estimated that more 
than four thousand people heard the words. 

Two months later, on Washington’s birthday, the 
church was again opened in honor of the Father of his 
Country, by request of Congress, made before leaving 
Philadelphia for the new Capital in Washington. 

One of the most notable of later gatherings in Zion 
was the Commemoration Service for General Lafayette, 
on July 21, 1834. The oration of the day was delivered 
by Peter 8. Du Ponceau. 

The last service in the church was held on November 
1, 1868. The shifting population had made necessary 
removal to a lot on Franklin Street, where the corner- 
stone of the new Zion was laid on September 1, 1870. In 
this building the congregation worships to-day. 

St. Michael’s Church has disappeared, but it lives 
still in a number of churches which have sprung from the 
original Lutheran church of Philadelphia, and its col- 
legiate church, Zion. 





XxX 


FRIENDS FROM CHESTER TO WILMINGTON 
AND BIRMINGHAM 


WHEN BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, FRANCIS HOPKINSON, AND 
BISHOP WHITE HELPED IN AN ELOPEMENT. IT WAS DANGEROUS 
TO FORD THE BRANDYWINE. A FRIENDS’ WEDDING. YOUNG MEN 
WHO DID NOT SPEAK TO THE GIRLS’ PARENTS FIRST. KICKING 
OVER THE TRACES. ‘‘TUMULT WITHOUT, BUT GREAT PEACE 
WITHIN.’’ WHY THE FRIENDS HAD TO REMOVE A DAM IN THE 
BRANDYWINE. BIRMINGHAM MEETING AND THE BATTLE OF 
BRANDYWINE 


HILE Swarthmore Monthly Meeting was not 

established until 1893, Friends lived in the vicin- 

ity long before. One of the most famous was Ben- 
jamin West, the artist, who was born on what are now 
the grounds of Swarthmore College. The story of his 
life is full of interest, but perhaps the most thrilling 
incident has to do with Elizabeth Shewell, whom he met 
when she was not fourteen years old. The man who won 
during the Revolution the name ‘‘Mad Anthony Wayne,’’ 
introduced the young people. From that day the young 
Quaker was determined to marry the bright Philadelphia 
maiden. First, however, he went to England, fortune- 
hunting. When he was twenty-five years old, he was 
ready for his bride. She, too, was ready. But her 
brother, with whom she lived, was not satisfied. So he 
locked her up. But the young artist had good friends. 
On a summer night in 1765 three of them went to the 
rescue of the young woman. They had a ladder. And 
soon they had the bride-to-be, and were bound for Ches- 
ter where a sloop was in waiting. In due time she was 
in London, and on September 2, 1765, she married 

10 145 


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OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ER??? COS oan'' 
Benjamin West in St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields Church, 
in London. 

And who were the three helpers in the elope- 
ment? Benjamin Franklin, Francis Hopkinson and 
William White—the man who became the first Bishop 
of Pennsylvania! 

The would-be bride embarked only a short distance 
from the spot where the Friends established their first 
meeting in Pennsylvania. This was at Chester, in 1681. 
The first Meeting House there was not built until 1693, 
though the Friends had been talking of building since 
1687. In the meantime meetings were held in a number 
of private houses, among them the house of Caleb Pusey, 
which is still standing. Pusey was one of the committee 
‘<to supply workmen in ye building ye Meeting house and 
Church with Stone.”’ 

Not far below Chester, and close to the road to Wil- 
mington, there is another old Meeting House—that of 
Chichester, built after the original Meeting House of 
1688 burned in 1768. Frequently travelers turn aside 
just to see the old gray walls beneath the trees which, if 
they could speak, would tell wonderful stories of the days 
when Pennsylvania was young. 

The Meeting House at Wilmington, Delaware, dates 
from 1816, though the Monthly Meeting there goes back 
to 1750, while there were meetings in the town as early 
as 1738. 

Between Wilmington and Kennett another historic 
Meeting House lures the wayfarer. Center is located just 
within the Circle Line on the sightly lot where, in 1717, 
Newark (later Kennett) Meeting authorized a Committee 
‘to take ye oversight of ye building * * * requesting 
you with all convenient speed to let out your work to some 
workmen in order to get it may be ye more speedily 

146 


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Dane 
e 
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So. 





FROM CHESTER TO WILMINGTON 





done.’’ With diligence they made ready a wooden build- 
ing, which was the immediate predecessor of the present 
structure, built in 1795. The Friends on the west side 
of the Brandywine had attended meeting at Newark, but 
they made a petition for relief from winter travel, 
‘*Desiring ye Concurrence of ffriends in behalf of ye fam- 
ilys on ye other side of Brandywine for ye holding of a 
Meeting in the Winter Season amongst themselves by 
reason of the dangerousness of ye ford.”’ | 

Generous Newark also gave permission to some of the 
Friends who attended there to have a meeting of their 
own in the Manor at Steyning, which William Penn 
secured from his father in 1706. So in 1713 the Meeting 
House known as New Garden was built, just west of the 
Circle Line in Pennsylvania. Thirty years later the 
southern end of the present building was put in place, 
though the north end was not added until 1790. 

London Grove Meeting was at first a part of New 
Garden, its independence dating from 1792. 

New Garden took its name from the Meeting in Eng- 
land from which many of the Friends there came, while 
London Grove tells of the London Company—‘‘the Pro- 
prietors of the Pennsylvania Land Company in London’? 
—to which William Penn sold thousands of acres. The 
American agent of the Company was John Estaugh of 
Haddonfield, New Jersey. 

London Grove’s first building, which dates from 1818, 
is one of the most pleasing of the old Meeting Houses. 
What a delightful picture it makes—the great trees on 
the lawn, the plain gables, the expansive roof, the in- 
viting porches, the hospitable looking words above the 
two entrance doors! No wonder John Russell Hayes 
speaks of it lovingly: 

*‘Thou, spacious, tranquil, grand old Meeting House.’’ 
147 


ee en cnet 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
SS Eee ns 
The same poet tells of the 
‘‘ Ancient seats of fragrant wood’’ 
in New Garden Meeting House, where sat some of the old 
worthies of whom Albert Cook Myers has told in ‘‘Irish 
Quakers in Pennsylvania’’: 

‘¢A great event among the Friends was a wedding. 
The first and important preliminary to the marriage was 
to ‘pass meeting,’ or obtain the consent of the monthly 
meeting. To this end the contracting parties appeared 
in two monthly meetings, and declared their intentions. 
Then, after a searching inquiry by a committee, if the 
couple were found to be ‘clear of all entanglements,’ they 
were left at liberty to accomplish their Marriage accord- 
ing to ‘ye great order’ of Friends.” 

When two young people ‘‘signified Their Intention of 
Taking Hach Other in Marriage,’’—to quote the stately 
words of New Garden records—a committee of men was 
appointed ‘‘to make Enquiry Concerning his Conversa- 
{ion and Clearness on ye account of Marriage,’’ while a 
committee of women were charged with the duty of ask- 
ing as to the would-be bride’s ‘‘clearness of Marriage 
with any other.’’ 

That the result of examination could easily prove 
a hindrance to the plan of the young people is apparent 
from the rule among Friends that a man who wished to 
marry must first speak to the parents. But if he failed 
to do so, woe betide him! 

In 1726 George Robinson wished to marry. But the 
report of the examining committee was such that he was 
obliged first to sign the following paper: 

‘‘Whereas I have made my mind known to Mary 
McKoy upon ye Account of Marriage before I had her 
parents’ consent, Contrary to ye order of friends for 
which I am Sorry as witness my bond.’’ 

148 





FROM CHESTER TO WILMINGTON 


In 1732 Robert Johnson had to go even further in 
self-abasement. The paper he had to sign read: 

‘‘Whereas I have Endeavored to draw out ye affec- 
tions of my friend Katherine Hardby before I had ye 
Consent of her parents, which said action of mine being 
contrary to ye rules of friends & I knowing in my Self 
it not to be Right, Wherefore I do Condemn all Such 
practices & do take ye blame on my Self & desire yt 
friends may pass it by & hope I shall be More Carefull 
for time to Come of giving any just offence to friends as 
witness my hand.’’ 

Sometimes young people kicked over the traces. They 
would not stand so much of what seemed to them needless 
red tape. In 1730, for instance, a young woman agreed 
with her swain to let the Meeting go its own way while 
they would go theirs. So it was recorded in the official 
records, that ‘‘Mary Moore is gone out from friends & 
is Marryed by a Justice of ye peace contrary to friends 
advice to her.”’ 

The records of Kennett Meeting do not tell of so many 
of these escapades of love among young people as those 
of New Garden, but there were probably just as many 
of them there, if not more, for the first Meeting House 
was built in 1710, three years before that at New Garden. 
Like New Garden, it was located in the Manor of Steyn- 
ing. Letitia Penn owned that part of the Manor included 
in Kennett township, and for this she was to pay to her 
father rent of ‘‘one Bever Skinne Yearly.’’? The privi- 
lege attaching to the holder of the land was ‘‘to have 
and to hold one Court Baron with all things whatsoever 
to a Court Baron belonging, and to have and to hold 
view of ffranck pledges for the conservation of the peace 
and the better Government of ye tenants holding or here- 
after to hold of the said Mannor.”’ 

149 


ecg SIR hs SOA RETIRE SONS Ee en 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
——_—_—— SY O0—0—?€[j[Vw§j§»«— oan Dc 

Yet Letitia Penn did not stay to enjoy the privileges 
to which she had a right. When she went to London she 
appointed James Logan and Samuel Carpenter her attor- 
neys in charge of her possessions. 

At Kennett Meeting Friends had gathered during the 
Brandywine campaign in 1777. While they worshiped 
within, the British soldiers took refuge behind the old 
stone wall of the burying-ground, which, unfortunately, 
has been replaced by an iron fence—and from this shelter 
took aim at the American soldiers who were coming down 
the road. It is said that one of the British armed men 
opened the door of the meeting-house and looked in, but 
the Friends paid no heed to him. One who was there at 
the time wrote of the day: ‘‘Tumult without, but great 
peace within. ”’ 

The Pennsylvania Historical Commission has erected 
a tablet on Kennett Meeting House, which reads: 

‘‘Here the Americans under Maxwell 
Opened Fire Upon the Advancing 
Hessians, thus Beginning the 
Battle of Brandywine, 
September 11, 1777’’ 

Tt was here that Bayard Taylor attended meet- 
ing. Thus he was able to speak from knowledge when 
he told of the presence there of the hero of ‘‘The Story 
of Kennett.’’ 

Like Taylor, John Russell Hayes is a lover of this 
historic Meeting. He writes of 

‘‘# * * the meeting sober and benign 
Of calm old Kennett by the country road. 
Ancient and staid, from the days of Penn 
To ours, a home of deepest Quaker peace.’’ 

Close to Kennett Meeting, though over the line in 
Delaware, Concord was established in 1684. The Friends 

150 





KENNETT MEETING HOUSE 
Erected 1711 


BSLT PeqeTU] 
ASNOH DNILGAAW SaNngiad GuOONOOD 


Atel Die airing 
Poke Hones 
x Pleat 


that asst 





FROM CHESTER TO WILMINGTON 


who belong to it lived along the Brandywine. They had 
trouble—so far as Friends can be said to have trouble— 
with the Indians, who claimed the land for one mile on 
each side of the creek. To the Assembly the Indians 
said that William Penn had granted them such a tract. 
In defiance of their rights the English settlers on the 
banks had built dams, which prevented the passage of 
fish. They said the paper which gave the right had been 
burned. But James Logan advised that tradition should 
be honored, and that the settlers should be advised to 
remove the dam. 

Once more across the line, now into Pennsylvania. 
Close to the Brandywine, but on a height well above the 
stream, is old Birmingham Meeting House, which, like 
other Friends’ Meetings, faces the south. This is the 
successor of the original log Meeting House of 1722. In 
1763 was built the plain stone structure which the con- 
tending armies found on the field of Brandywine in 1777. 

On Sunday, September 7, when the Friends came to 
worship, they found the building in possession of Wash- 
ington’s soldiers; it had been taken for a hospital. The 
Commander of the army thought it would be far from the 
seat of battle; he believed the impending engagement 
would be at Chadd’s Ford. A few benches were taken out 
under the trees, and an attempt was made to hold 
a meeting. 

Four days later came the battle. Contrary to expecta- 
tion, the Meeting House was close to the fray. Near by 
Lafayette was wounded. And after the battle General 
Howe seized the building for a hospital. Some of both 
British and American soldiers who died within its walls 
found resting place in the burying ground. On Septem- 
ber 16 the British sent 112 wagon loads of their wounded 

151 


an nnn EEE 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


—————————————————————————————————oO———oOoOoesae SSS 80—s—ss=—=—OOOS>S“S» —wa@omw_=*"'] 


to Wilmington. A tablet on the Meeting House tells 
the story. 

In ‘“‘The Wagoner of the Alleghenies’? Thomas 
Buchanan Read tells of the strife that raged about 
Birmingham: 


‘<The horn was loud, but louder still 
Anon the rage of battle roared 
Its wild and murderous will. 
From Jefferis down to Wistar’s ford, 
From Jones to Chad’s, the cannon poured, 
While thundered Osborne Hill. 
Oh, ne’er before fled holy calm 
From out its sainted house of prayer 
So frightened through the trembling air 
As from thy shrine of Birmingham.”’ 





XXI 
AT MIDDLETOWN AND FORKS OF BRANDYWINE 


THE PATRIOTS BROKE FORTY-FIVE PANES OF GLASS. FROM 
ACTIVE PATRIOT TO MIDDLETOWN CEMETERY. FORKS THAT WERE 
NOT FORKS. GOING TO CHURCH ON INDIAN TRAILS. FAMOUS 


CONTRIBUTORS TO A BUILDING FUND. ‘“‘INTREAT US NOT TO 
LEAVE YOU.’’ FROM THE PULPIT TO VALLEY FORGE 








surrounded by a burying ground, on the Edgemont 

Road, close to the Baltimore Road, not far from 
Media, and the building to which the congregation repairs 
each Sunday has stone walls that have stood since 1766. 
Several times since then architects have worked on the 
building, but they have not seen the necessity of improv- 
ing on the sturdy results of the mason’s work done ten 
years before the Revolution. 

It was 1720 when the Scotch-Irish Presbyterian set- 
tlers in the picturesque region only four miles from the 
spot where William Penn landed, said that they must 
have a church where they could ‘‘perform divine service 
according to the canons and ecclesiastical Constitution of 
the Kirk of Scotland, and for a place to bury their dead.’’ 
This church they called Middletown. 

The ‘‘place to bury their dead’’ attracts the attention 
of every visitor. There are many quaint inscriptions 
and reminders of colonial days. Among them all per- 
haps the most significant is the white marble slab that 
tells of the burial place of ‘‘Isaac Snowden, Hsq., Late 
of Philadelphia.’’ 

For Isaac Snowden, who died in 1809, when he was 
seventy-eight years old, was not only himself a leader in 
both Church and State; he was a link between the early 


153 


JOR more than two centuries there has been a church, 


le Oa ee 

OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
eee S500 —0—000—0——O>o=—™—™—™-'7 
days of Pennsylvania and the years when the Baltimore 
Road became one of the famous thoroughfares of the 
nation—the road taken by George Washington in his 
journeys from Mount Vernon to Philadelphia, and, later, 
by the great lawmakers as they passed between Philadel- 
phia and Washington. 

The first Snowden to reach America came before the 
days of William Penn. John Snowden, the grandfather 
of Isaac, was one of the founders of the First Presby- 
terian Church in Philadelphia. Isaac’s father, also, was 
a Philadelphian, and there Isaac was born, on April 14, 
1732, on Second Street, below Walnut, in a house where 
the Snowden family lived for more than a century. His 
mother, Ruth Fitz Randolph, had a brother Nathaniel who 
gave to the College of New Jersey the ground on which 
historic Nassau Hall was erected. 

When Isaac Snowden was twenty-four he joined in a 
petition to the British Government to protect the frontier, 
during the war with the French and Indians. And two 
years later he signed a document of a very different sort 
"_» document which testified to the joy of the people 
because of one of the great triumphs of that conflict. 


‘‘Received, January 27, 1759, forty-five shillings in 
full for 45 panes of glass put into the houses belonging to 
my mother and John Snowden, 16 whereof belong to her 
part and 29 to my brother John’s, broke on the rejoicing 
night for the reduction of Louisberg and hired for the use 
of the Honourable the Proprietaries.’’ 


During the next fifty years Isaac was a diligent patriot 
and loyal citizen. For two years he was quartermaster of 
the Pennsylvania militia. By appointment of Congress 
he was one of the commissioners to sign the Continental 
currency. When the British occupied Philadelphia, his 
property was severely damaged. After the war he was at 

154 





AT MIDDLETOWN 








various times treasurer of the county and city of Phila- 
delphia. And in his old age he had the pleasure of seeing 
one of his four sons who became ministers, Nathaniel, 
begin his pastorate in Middletown Presbyterian Church. 
A few months later the son wrote the inscription for his 
father placed on his tomb in the old cemetery. 
Middletown Church at Elwyn was for a generation 
closely connected with another famous organization, not 
far away in Chester County, the Forks of Brandywine 
Presbyterian Church, located on one of the highest bits of 
land in West Brandywine Township. The name given to 
the church by its founder is a temptation to locate it close 
to the junction of two of the fairest streams in the 
vicinity of Philadelphia. But, in the words of Wilmer W. 
MacElree, in ‘‘ Along the Western Brandywine’’: 


‘Seek not to discover the actual forks in the land- 
scape before you; to find them, you must travel fifteen 
miles southeastwardly across the high and scraggy Val- 
ley Hills to the far off Lenape Meadows. Standing in the 
church-yard vainly striving to discover somewhere in the 
neighboring valleys, the union of the Eastern and the West- 
ern Brandywine, one realizes the elasticity of the ecclesi- 
astical language of the eighteenth century, which made 
the forks include the territory between the headwaters of 
the Brandywine in Honey Brook Township, and the con- 
fluence of the two main branches in Kast Bradford.’’ 


In 1734, when the church was organized, the Brandy- 
wine was a more important stream than it is today. For 
roads were few; dependence was placed on Indian paths. 
The first log church was built on one of these primitive 
trails. Thirty years later the pastor told the authorities 
of the lack of even a ‘‘bridle road between the Great and 
the Little Connostogo Roads ending at the new Presby- 
terian Meeting-house on the little Connostogo.’’ 

The original log building gave way to a more preten- 

155 


a nC 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








tious stone structure. This building was heated by live 
coals placed in receptacles in the aisle. And in 1786 the 
disaster came—coals set fire to the house. 

This disaster paved the way for one of the most 
notable things in connection with the church. When plans 
were made for a new building, one of the officers went to 
Philadelphia to solicit gifts. Among those who made sub- 
scriptions were Dr. Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, 
David Rittenhouse, Mayor Edward Shippen, William | 
Shippen, Professor in the University of Pennsylvania; 
Attorney General William Bradford, John Nicholson (the 
partner of the unfortunate Robert Morris), and Colonel 
Andrew Porter and General John Potter, officers in the 
Continental Army. 

The early pastors at Forks of Brandywine were also 
in charge of Middletown. But the day came when the 
Forks sought a leader of their own. In 1760 the church 
asked Rev. John Carmichael to become their pastor. He 
hailed from the church in Newark, New Jersey, of which 
the pastor was Rev. Aaron Burr, father of the Vice Presi- 
dent of the United States of the same name. The urgent 
call sent to the man of their choice was a document that 
could not be resisted. Extracts from it are rich reading. 
First the congregation told of the location of the church: © 

‘it Lys near the Seat of the Synad—and has Been 
Ever Reported one of the Most Healthy places as it is high 
Land and fule of Good springs. It is a Compact Congre- 
gation & a few of Different Denominations Intermixed.”’ 

Then reference is made to the troubles of the congre- 
gation, which was hoping for better days: 


‘‘Byven in the Midst of all these Distresses our Case 
was not Soe peculiarly Dangerous as now by reason of 
the Ceceders Unwearied Industry to propagate their 
Schemes & make a party which in Some Measure they 

156 





MIDDLETOWN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEAR MEDIA, PENNSYLVANIA 
The Walls Have Stood Since 1766 





FORKS OF BRANDYWINE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
NEAR HONEY BROOK, PENNSYLVANIA 
Organized 1734 


nn ne cee a UU dEEdEEyIEEEEE SEES 


AT MIDDLETOWN 


LL 
have Effected and some have said that if we Cannot 
obtain your Settlement Necessity will oblige them to 
joyne the Ceceders & if this is the Case, Brandywine has 
done, and we May only Sit Down & Lament over the Ruins 
of the Congregation & seeing the house of God turned to 
a Draught-house & our Children left to: Rove a Number of 
neer Sceptics without any regard to God or Religion. A 
Dismal Reflection but likely to be the Case if Mr. 
Carmichael shuts his ear to the Cry Throw Brandywine 
off as a Vessel of Destruction. . . 

‘‘Now Dr Sir we Unitedly renew our application to 
you in the language of Ruth to Naomi, Intreat us not to 
Leave you nor from following after you.’’ 

The coming of Mr. Carmichael was fortunate for the 
Province as well as for the church. By pen and by voice he 
stirred others to patriotic fervor. When the First Conti- 
nental Congress met in Philadelphia, his words encour- 
aged reluctant members to.action. In 1775 John Adams 
told of hearing him preach in Philadelphia. When the 
volunteers from his congregation and neighborhood were 
departing for the front, he preached to them, followed 
them, and was with them in battle within a few weeks. He 
visited the army at Valley Forge, and when he learned 
from Washington of the need of linen for bandages, he 
returned home, summoned his congregation and told what 
they could do. Soon he was on his way back to Valley 
Forge, with two bags of bandages. The congregation was 
gratified by the receipt fromWashington himself of a let- 
ter of appreciation for the linen and for other gifts sent 
to the army. 

Probably this proud record was responsible for the 
readiness of so many national leaders to make the gifts 
for the new building which was sought after the fire. The 
meeting house erected after the gifts were collected was 
in use until 1874, when it gave place to the structure in 
which the congregation meets to-day. 

157 





XXII 
TEN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCHES 


FALCKNER SWAMP, LITTLE ZION, OLD GOSHENHOPPEN, RED 
HILL, TOHICKON, ZION (EAST PIKELAND), ST. PETER’S (WEST 
PIKELAND), ST. MATTHEW’S (BEDMINSTER), UPPER DUBLIN, ST. 
JOHN’S (CENTER SQUARE). A LAND AGENT WHO FOUNDED A 
CHURCH. ON LAND DEEDED BY RICHARD PENN. ‘‘THE SIX- 
CORNERED CHURCH.’?’ WHERE WASHINGTON VISITED SICK 
SOLDIERS. A CHURCH WITH MANY NICKNAMES. AN APPEAL FOR 
HALF A ROOF. AFTER THE BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE 








HEN the country about Philadelphia was still 

young, the liberty-loving settlers from Germany 

who were among the sturdiest of the pioneers in 
the fair land of Penn thought it as necessary to have 
churches as homes. 

Daniel Falckner was one of these settlers. He was not 
only a Lutheran preacher, but he was a land agent. As 
land agent, he was in charge of the selling of 22,377 acres 
in what became known as Falckner’s Swamp, in what is 
now Hanover Township, Montgomery County. There 
he laid the foundation of New Hanover or Falckner’s 
Swamp Church, which dates from 1700, and thus is the 
oldest Lutheran church now in existence in America. As 
new settlers were attracted to the large, well-sheltered 
and well-watered lowland, fertile as any English meadow, 
they were drawn into the rude log-cabin church, which 
served the congregation until 1721. 

A second log building followed, then a more preten- 
tious structure, which was unfinished when Rev. Henry 
M. Muhlenberg found his way to this outpost in 1742. 
His pastorate continued nearly twenty years. This 
Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America had the 

158 





EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCHES 








ability to guide the fortunes of a number of churches at 
the same time. 

A few years after his pastorate closed, in 1767, an 
ambitious new building was erected under the direction 
of Adam Wartman, Jacob Ebli, and Matthias Reichart. 
Their work was so well done that the structure is still 
used by the congregation, after nearly one hundred and 
sixty years. The walls of gray stone and brown stone 
look down on the graves of pioneers who lie buried in 
ground laid out for the purpose by Hendrick Panne- 
becker in 1719. This sturdy buttressed building was used 
during the Revolution as a hospital. 

The stone building occupied by the congregation of 
Little Zion Lutheran Church, in Franconia Township, 
Montgomery County, is only a few years younger than 
that of Falckner’s Swamp. This was built in 1792, though 
it has been enlarged since that time. The first building, 
erected in 1730, was of logs, and was built on land given 
for the purpose by Lodwick Lerekell. In it Dr. Muhlen- 
berg preached more than once. 

Two years after the organization of Little Zion 
Church, in 1732, came the beginnings of Old Goshenhop- 
pen Church, in Upper Salford Township, also in Mont- 
gomery County. This church was for many years under 
the care of the same pastors as its neighbor in Franconia 
Township. Its fame rests partly on the fact that 1t was 
the first union church in Pennsylvania, the Reformed 
Church having joined with the Lutheran Church in estab- 
lishing it, as well as on the further fact that the ground 
on which the first log church was built was deeded by 
John Thorne and Richard Penn. The building occupied 
to-day, the successor of the original log cabin, dates from 
1858, though it has been almost completely rebuilt. 

Montgomery County has also a remarkable organiza- 

159 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








tion at Red Hill, in Upper Hanover Township. The large 
building occupied to-day is comparatively new, but the 
church itself dates back to 1739. One of the relics of the 
past is its nickname, ‘‘The Six Cornered Church,’’ which 
was the popular designation of the second building, 
erected in 1803, because it had six corners, the extra 
corners being on a large extension. The six-cornered 
church followed the building of logs, erected soon after 
the congregation moved from a tract of six acres which 
it had held in common with representatives of the 
Reformed and Mennonite denominations. The Reformed 
church near Hast Greenville is on the original site. 

Lutheran and Reformed churches have kept together 
for nearly two hundred years at Peace church, also 
called Tohickon, in Bedminster Township, Bucks County. 
When Dr. Muhlenberg came from Germany he found the 
congregation ready for guidance. Under his leadership 
they secured a building. The successor of this edifice, 
which dates from 1837, is in use to-day—a dignified two- 
story stone church, with twin entrances, in the front, 
and on the side. The first story windows are protected 
by solid white shutters, while the round-topped windows 
on the second floor have lattice shutters. Above the 
entrance there is a simple palladian window. The trees, — 
the stone wall, the stones which cluster closely in the 
graveyard, form a fair setting for one of the finest old 
country churches near Philadelphia. 

Once historic Zion’s Lutheran Church in East Pike- 
land, Chester County, rejoiced in a stone building even 
more picturesque. This was erected in 1774, after the 
log building which dated from the days of Dr. Muhlen- 
berg’s service in the congregation had proved too con- 
fined. This stone church was completed several years 
before the Battle of Brandywine. It was so conveniently 

160 




































































a 5 
Se 





PHILADELPHIA AND THE CHURCHES, FROM THE DELAWARE RIVER 
From an Old Engraving 







Sd 
fi f 
pe Spr or 


EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCHES 


located that it was turned into a hospital, the pews being 
removed for the purpose. A second opportunity to be 
useful in the cause of the struggling Colonies was pre- 
sented when the American Army was at Valley Forge. 
Then the church was used again as a hospital, as well 
as the new residences provided for the pastor. The 
congregation rejoices in the tradition that more than 
once Washington visited the sick and dying soldiers in 
the building. 

Thirteen years after the days of Valley Forge, a pipe 
organ was installed in the building. This has its suc- 
cessor, but it is preserved in the church which in 1860 
succeeded the Revolutionary structure. 

The destruction of the old stone building was the 
cause of rather bitter feeling in the congregation, but 
fortunately the result was not a split, as was the case in 
1770, when the location of the projected new stone church 
was under consideration. Then the defeated faction with- 
drew, formed St. Peter’s Church, West Pikeland, and 
built a log church, ‘‘beyond the French Creek,’’ on the 
lot they had favored. At one time they were united under 
one pastorate with the church from which they had with- 
drawn. But the habit of splitting had been formed. After 
seventy years of separate existence the members quar- 
reled, and the issue was the organization of a new 
church. The result is the presence in Pikeland Hills of 
two St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran churches, called 
popularly Upper Pikeland and Middle Pikeland churches. 

Next in age to Zion’s Church, from which came the 
splitting St. Peter’s branch, is St. Matthew’s church, in 
Bedminster Township, Bucks County. The present build- 
ing, which was erected in 1841, is located on a height 
along the Ridge Road, close to the Tohickon Creek. 
Henry Acker, Henry Keller, and Christian Stoneback 

11 | 161 


nn nnn nn Leeda EES 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
oo oaD—a—aSaS—" 
bought for sixty dollars the tract on which the first build- 
ing was placed in 1751. Its successor was called the 
‘‘Bush Kirche,”’ or ‘‘The Church of the Woods,’’ because 
it was situated at the end of a large tract of woodland 
through which the Ridge Road of that day ran. Another 
nickname was the ‘‘Bar’’ church, because of the long iron 
bar placed through its bulging walls. But the name that 
persists to-day, ‘‘Keller’s Church,’’ was given in honor | 
of Henry Keller, one of the builders. 

This church also was for a long time a union church, 
in which the Reformed and Lutheran bodies united. 

In the neighborhood of Philadelphia six or eight addi- 
tional Lutheran churches date from the years before the 
Revolution. Of these one of the most famous is that 
of Upper Dublin, in Montgomery County, whose first 
building owed its completion to Dr. Muhlenberg. On 
June 18, 1754, after preaching in the building, he wrote: 
‘¢ Ag there was as yet no roof on the building, and it was 
difficult to preach in it, I urged the poor people to follow 
my example, and add their contributions to mine, so that 
at least one-half of the building might be roofed in, which 
was done.’? This building, which was used as a hospital 
for wounded American soldiers after the Battle of Ger- 
mantown, made way for that of 1858. This building, much 
enlarged, is on the original site, at Butler Drive and Sus- 
quehanna Street Road. 

The cornerstone of St. John’s Lutheran Church at 
Center Square, Pennsylvania, seems to bear testimony 
that the picturesque building dates from 1776. This is 
a mistake, however; the cornerstone of a former building 
was used when the foundations of the new building were 
laid in 1834. But, even if the building does not go back 
to the days of the Revolution, the patriotic memories of 
the congregation turn with pride to them, because the 

162 


EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCHES 


pastor, Johann Frederick Schmidt, proved himself a real 
friend of the Colonies. The location of the church, in the 
Skippack Road, on an elevation which overlooks the 
country for miles around, gave him his opportunity. 
After the Battle of Germantown, he saw the retreating 
troops of Washington proceed to within three miles of 
the church. At once he opened the doors to receive the 
sick and the wounded of the brave little army. Many of 
them who entered the building for treatment left it only 
to go to the cemetery back of the church. 





XXIII 
TWO CENTURIES WITH THE MERION FRIENDS 


WHAT WAS THE DATE? AMID PRIMITIVE SURROUNDINGS. HELP- 
ING POORER NEIGHBORS. BETWEEN TWO FIRES. WHERE WILLIAM 
PENN WENT TO MEETING 








N 1682 a devoted company of Welsh families came to 
live in what is to this day known as the Welsh Tract, 
west of the Schuylkill, in the present Montgomery, 

Chester and Delaware counties. John ap Thomas and 
- Edward Jones bought from William Penn 5000 acres, for 
their own use, and that of fifteen other Welsh families. 
Their purchase was within a larger tract of 40,000 acres, 
set apart by Penn for Welsh Friends who wished to find 
a peaceful home in a new land. 

Immediately after their arrival on the ship Lyon, in 
August, the seventeen families, in which were forty 
people, went to the homes of which they hoped so much. 
They éalled the region Merion, in honor of the old home 
in Merionethshire, Wales. 

For several years they met on Seventh day, first in 
one house, then in another. But in 1695 they took steps to 
have a Meeting House. The first purchase was half an 
acre of land which they set apart for a graveyard, 
secured from Edward ap Reese. On this was erected a 
simple building. Some think this was of logs, though 
others feel sure it must have been of stone, and that the 
original building constitutes a part of the structure in 
use to-day. Others say that the latter building should 
be dated from 1713. 

At any rate there was a building long before L713. 
The records of the meeting in 1693 tell of ‘‘8 shillings 
paid for cleaning the Merion Meeting House,’’ while a 

164 


LT 


TWO CENTURIES WITH MERION FRIENDS 








minute in 1702 tells of purchasing locks, hinges, shutters 
and benches for the house. Another record, made in 1703, 
tells of the request to Friends to pay their subscriptions 
toward building the addition to the Meeting House. 

Those who argue for the early date of the present 
house point to the date stone in the gable which plainly 
reads ‘‘1695.’? They call attention also to the unusual 
form of the building, which is cruciform—indicating not 
that this form was chosen at the beginning, but was the 
result of additions. 

Unfortunately, the structure does not present the 
appearance shown in an old engraving. The original 
structure did not seem so much like the meeting place of 
sober Friends. But when the roof line was changed, and 
the pointed stone walls and rubble work were covered with 
plaster, it lost much that was distinctive. 

Some of the benches on which Friends sit to-day are 
more than two hundred years old. In the upper room are 
more crude benches, as well as desks, used when a school 
was conducted in the building. 

The Meeting is a prominent feature of the roadside 
for those who fare along Montgomery Avenue, the mod- 
ern successor of the old Lancaster Turnpike, and of the 
old road from Philadelphia to the Brandywine, which 
dates from 1721. Still earlier, there were roads from 
Merion Meeting to Darby, and to Radnor. So the Welsh 
Friends were not cut off from communication with their 
neighbors, though this was of very primitive fashion. 

Many of those who lived within reach of the new 
meeting house were poor. After the manner of Friends, 
their members were looked after by their associates who 
were more fortunate. ‘‘Whatever was needed, whether 
it was a cow, a working implement, household ooods, or 
the loan of money, was promptly forwarded, if not by the 

165 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


meeting, at least by a thoughtful, observant neighbor,’’ 
writes a local historian. They included also Friends who 
lived farther away; one record shows that £60 were sent 
by Haverford Monthly Meeting, of which Merion Meeting 
was a part, for the relief of those in New England who 
had lost their crops by Indian raids. 

At the bi-centennial celebration of the Merion Meet- 
ing in 1895 a speaker called attention to the fact that 
‘during the dark days of the Revolution the Welsh 
Friends of this section were included in the general suf- 
fering. Between the two contending armies their goods 
and money were taken for the support of both. Corn- 
wallis’ army, as well as that of General Washington, are 
named in our record books as taking at their need the 
property of our members. The Meeting kept a partial 
list of the damage done as the cases were reported by the 
sufferers, that the loss might be equally shared by 
the Society. 

‘‘Trained against bearing arms or shedding a broth- 
er’s blood, they sought in the main: to avoid the strife, 
though their sympathies were mostly with the struggling 
colonists. Many of their youthful members disregarded 
the teachings of the Society, and enlisted or otherwise 
assisted the cause. Especially was this the case while the 
American army was in the neighborhood. * * * The 
cases of such was laid before the Meeting, and, as they 
had violated the testimonies of Friends, many member- 
ships were then forfeited.’’ 

During the centuries of the history of the Meeting 
many famous men have visited it. The first of these, 
William Penn, spoke to the members, either in the Meet- 
ing House, or in the home of one of them. He was some- 
times a guest of his friend, Hugh Roberts, who gave a 
sun dial to the Society. During the Revolution it was 
taken for the lead it contained, and made into bullets for 

166 


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TaVIIHd YVAN 


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ut 


VIHdT 


$ 
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_ASQOH DNILAGW ANOLS NOIWAW C10 AHL,, 


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Sa aS ee reins belie inet eee 
. or Ris Or ~ 


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TWO CENTURIES WITH MERION FRIENDS 








the soldiers. Both John Woolman and Thomas Chalkly 
visited the Meeting on more than one occasion. In 1726 
Chalkly spoke of it as consisting ‘‘chiefly of antient 
Britons, who are a religious, industrious, and increasing 
people.’? Robert Sutcliffe, the English traveler, also told 
of being there. 

The numbers of the Friends at Merion have decreased, 
but their earnestness is as of yore. One who contributed 
a poem to the historical record of the Meeting concluded: 


‘‘Tiet us not grieve if numbers fail 
To fill the old familiar benches ; 
They have not gone ‘without the veil,’ 
But find good work in other trenches. 
What though our seating dwindle more, 
One fact should make us much amends, 
The best of men, in all the creeds, 
Are clasping hands as earnest friends.’’ 


XXIV 


TRAPPE, THE OLDEST LUTHERAN CHURCH. 
IN AMERICA 
A CHURCH BEGUN IN A BARN. A REPRIEVE FOR A RELIC. A 
PASTOR SOUGHT BY THE BRITISH. WHAT THE MILITIA DID TO 
THE CHURCH. A FAMILY OF PATRIOTS. ‘‘THERE IS A TIME 
TO FIGHT’? 





HEN the German settlers in Pennsylvania com- . 
\\) plained to their friends in the Fatherland that 
they had no Lutheran minister to look after them, 
Henry Melchior Muhlenberg was chosen to go to America 
and live among them. This was at the specific request of 
Falckner Swamp, Philadelphia, and Trappe Lutheran 
churches. He arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, in 
September, 1742, and after a dangerous overland journey 
reached Philadelphia on November 25, 1742. 

One of the first calls to which the new missionary 
responded came from Trappe, twenty-four miles west of 
Philadelphia. On December 12, 1742, Mr. Muhlenberg 
held services there in a barn. The Lutherans of the 
neighborhood were so glad to see him that they speedily 
made arrangements for the building of a church ‘‘54 
schuh long by 37 schuh breit.’? Half of the required £200 
was raised in the community; the remainder came from 
Europe. Less than two years after the service in the barn 
the church was ready for consecration. For many years 
afterward Dr. Muhlenberg, who was a general missionary 
of the Lutheran Church, had more or less to do with the 
church. His headquarters were sometimes at Trappe, 
sometimes at Philadelphia. 

This curious structure, which is unlike any other 
church in America, is still open to visitors, though ser- 
vices are usually held in a more modern building. On 

168 





BERG'S LUTHERAN CHURCH AT TRAPPE, PENNSYLVANTA 
Erected 1743 ; 


DR. MUHL 








OLDEST LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA 


several occasions the old church has been given a longer 
lease of life, in spite of the efforts to destroy it of thrifty 
men who did not see any reason to spend money on 
repairs. However, since 1860, when the roof was taken 
off by a storm and the building was repaired by friends, 
there has been a growing pride in the relic, in conse- 
quence of which it is probably past the danger of wan- 
ton destruction. 

During the Revolution the British placed a price on 
the head of the devoted pastor, but he fearlessly con- 
tinued his journeys to and from Philadelphia. His home 
near the church was always open to those who sought 
shelter there, in spite of the warnings of those who said 
that enemies might be admitted in this way. 

After the Battle of Brandywine, Washington’s army 
spent a season near the old church, which was used both 
as a barracks and as a hospital. On Sunday, September 
27, 1777, Dr. Muhlenberg went to the building to conduct 
a funeral, In his diary he wrote: ‘‘Found to my sorrow 
that a regiment of Pennsylvania militia had taken pos- 
session of the church, which was filled with officers and 
men and their arms; the organ gallery was also full; one 
was playing the organ and another singing an accom- 
paniment; the floor was filled with straw and dirt, and 
on the altar they had their victuals.”’ | 

After the Battle of Germantown the troops returned 
to the church, and on October 5 Washington visited the 
wounded who had been laid in the pews. 

Dr. Muhlenbereg’s three sons became prominent in: the 
history of the country. Henry Ernest, the youngest, was 
a pastor in Philadelphia when the British occupied the 
city. Like his father, he was threatened with death 
because of his activity in encouraging the patriots. The 
second son, Frederick Augustus, was a pastor in New 


169 


Re mM Tari sen Witenes Aaa CGO A ss Sa le 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Eee ee ee 
York, until the British came. Friends urged him to flee 

to Pennsylvania to escape the vengeance of the enemy. 

Peter, the oldest son, was a pastor in Virginia when 
he heard the callto arms. At the urgent request of Wash- 
ington and Patrick Henry, he accepted an appointment 
as colonel of a Virginia regiment. Then he sent word to 
the people of the scattered congregation to gather to 
hear his farewell sermon. The dramatic story of what 
followed was told by his brother Henry: 


‘‘He ascended the pulpit, his tall form arrayed in full 
uniform, over which his gown was thrown. After reca- 
pitulating the story of their sufferings and their wrongs, 
and telling them the sacred character of the struggle in 
which he had unsheathed the sword, he said: 

‘¢ ‘Tn the language of holy writ there is a time for all 
things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those 
times have passed away. There is also a time to fight, 
and that time has now come.’ ”’ 

Then, after pronouncing the benediction, he threw 
off his gown, and stood before his people in full uniform. 
Stepping down to the aisle, he ordered the drum to beat 
for recruits. That day nearly three hundred men enlisted. 
The regiment, brought to full strength during the next 
few weeks, was probably the first of the Virginia regi- 
ments ready for service. 

After serving with signal honor through the war, he 
was a member of Congress for several terms, then United 
States Senator. And when he died he was buried by the 
side of his father, who had died in 1787, in the old 
Trappe churchyard. 





XXV 


NESHAMINY OF WARWICK, THE CHURCH OF 
THE LOG COLLEGE 

A MINISTER AND HIS FOUR SONS. STUDENTS AMONG THE 
FARMERS, WHITEFIELD VISITS THE ‘‘ACADEMY.’’ FAMOUS 
GRADUATES FROM THE SCHOOL IN THE FOREST. THE ANCESTOR 
OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY? THE PEDDLER WHO SPOKE LATIN. 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S ADVICE TO THE CHAPLAINS, THE TEA 
WAS BURNED ON PRINCETON’S CAMPUS 








SHORT distance beyond the picturesque village of 
A Hartsville, eighteen miles from Philadelphia, in 

Montgomery County, close to the farmhouse where 
General George Washington had his headquarters when 
the Marquis de Lafayette joined him, Neshaminy of 
Warwick Presbyterian Church has stood for two cen- 
turies by the waters of the western branch of the Nesham- 
iny Creek. Pioneers said the church was to be found ‘‘in 
the Forks of the Neshaminy.’’ 

In 1709 John Boyden owned the ground where the 
church stands, having received the title to 1000 acres from 
William Penn in 1684. In 1741 two acres of the pur- 
chase were deeded to the trustees of the church by 
Thomas Howell, the first owner after Penn whose name 
was not Boyden. | 

But the church was organized a few years earlier. 
About 1716 Rev. William Tennent, a cousin of Hon. James 
Logan, Secretary of the Province, came from Ireland to 
America. When he applied to the Presbytery of Phila- 
delphia for admission to that body he told why he was 
turning from the Church of England, in which he had 
been ordained, to the Presbyterian Church. 

A few years later, probably in 1726, he laid the foun- 

171 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
[Rianne ee 
dation of Warwick Church in Neshaminy. He laid also 
the foundations of what was to become one of the most 
remarkable of the schools of the pioneer. He had four 
sons, and these he wished to educate. But he was think- 
ing also of the sons of others. There must be a place 
for them to go. There must be a school which could be 
looked to for ministers for the young Church in America. 

For the use of the school he put up, on a part of the 
fifty acres given to him by James Logan, a building of 
logs, cut probably from the ground around the site, just 
across the road from his residence, a mile south of the 
present village of Hartsville, on the York Road. Along 
this road so many of the pioneers used to travel between 
Philadelphia and New York, including Benjamin Frank- 
lin, who frequently toiled that way in his chaise, when 
making a tour of inspection, as Deputy Postmaster Gen- 
eral for the Colonies. 

The students of the ‘‘College’’ boarded with the far- 
mers of the neighborhood, though many of them were 
taken into the homes of the founder who was also the 
teacher and the provider of necessary funds. The inter- 
ests of the school were so close to his heart that he 
involved himself in financial difficulties by caring for it. 

Of this primitive school we are told by the great 
evangelist, George Whitefield, when he came over from 
England to preach to the people during the days which 
became known as ‘‘The Great Awakening.’’ His first 
meeting with Mr. Tennent was in Philadelphia, where the 
teacher-preacher called on him. In his Journal the Eng- 
lish minister wrote: 

‘¢We were much comforted by the coming of one Mr. 
Tennent, an old gray-headed disciple and soldier of Jesus 
Christ. He keeps an academy about twenty miles from 
Philadelphia. ’’ 

172 


NESHAMINY OF WARWICK 


Again we read of Mr. Whitefield’s visit to Neshaminy 
in 1739, when on his way to New York: 

‘Nov. 22. Set out for Neshaminy, twenty miles dis- 
tant from Trent Town, where old Mr. Tennent lives, and 
keeps an academy; and where I was to preach to-day. 
* * * We found about three thousand people gathered 
together in the meeting-house yard.”’ , 

Then he spoke of the fact that this place where young 
men were studying was called, in contempt, ‘‘the college.”’ 
But he did not feel like making fun of it. ‘‘To me it 
seemed remarkable,’’ he said. ‘‘From this despised place 
seven or eight worthy ministers of Jesus have lately been 
sent forth; more are ready to be sent.’’ 

Among the alumni of the school were the sons of the 
founder, who went out from Neshaminy to other churches. 
One of these, Gilbert Tennent, became pastor of the Sec- 
ond Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, where he 
won fame as a preacher of unusual powers. Some say 
that he was among the greatest pulpit orators America 
has known. 

Another famous graduate was Rev. Samuel Blair, who, 
at Fagg’s Manor, Pennsylvania, conducted a school simi- 
lar to the Log College. Samuel Blair’s brother John found 
his way to Nassau Hall, or ‘‘the College of New Jersey,”’ 
now Princeton University, where he was first Vice Presi- 
dent, and then Acting President until Dr. John Wither- 
spoon’s arrival from Scotland. 

Rev. Samuel Finley at one time was supply of the 
Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. Later, 
when he went to Nottingham, Maryland, he founded a 
like school in connection with his church. This school is 
still in existence. Among his students there were Dr. 
Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, Governor Martin of 
North Carolina, Colonel John Bayard, Speaker of the 

173 


Corsets i Le veel Sour RNASE SOSH NESE ARSC oe 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ee ee ee 
House of Representatives, and Governor Herzog of 

Maryland. 

In 1761 Mr. Finley became President of Nassau Hall, 
where his scholarship became so well known that Glas- 
gow University gave him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 

The passage of several of the students to official posi- 
tions in the early days of Princeton University is spe- 
cially interesting because by many the Log College is 
held to be the ancestor of the New Jersey institution. 
Whitefield spoke of Tennent’s institution as ‘shaving 
grown into a large college now existing in the Jerseys.”’ 

In 1742, when William Tennent was becoming feeble, 
Rev. Charles Beatty became his assistant. He was a son 
of Christina Clinton, who was a relative of George Clin- 
ton, General in the War of the Revolution, as well as of 
De Witt Clinton, the projector of the Hrie Canal. 

A few years before the beginning of his work at 
Neshaminy, Beatty, then a recent immigrant from Eing- 
land, was a peddler. In the course of his travels he 
paused at Log College. Mr. Tennent was attracted to 
him from the beginning, but when the peddler addressed 
him in good Latin, he told the young man he ought to give 
up peddling. ‘‘Go and sell the contents of your pack 
and return immediately,’’ was the message that changed 
the course of young Beatty’s life. 

The pack was disposed of, the course at the Log Col- 
lege was begun, and in 1743 he ‘‘was ordained to the 
congregation of Warwick in ye Forks of Neshaminy.”’ 

Mr. Beatty’s name is enshrined in the village of Hat- 
boro, four miles south of Hartsville, because he founded 
there a public library, one of the early institutions of the 
kind in the country. This was opened in 1756. It is still 
in existence, occupying its own building. 

During the same year troops were raised in Pennsyl- 

174 





NESHAMINY OF WARWICK 








vania to defend the frontier, which was threatened 
because of the war between England and France. A 
recruiting officer who visited Hartsville did not have 
much success. So on Sunday Mr. Beatty said to his con- 
gregation in Warwick Church: 


‘The savages have attacked the frontier settlements, 
and are murdering our fellow citizens. * * * The Gov- 
ernor has made a call for volunteers. It is certainly some- 
body’s duty to go, and I have determined, if the Synod 
allows me, to offer my services as Chaplain. * * * Of 
course it will be very pleasant to have the Company of 
any of the congregation or my neighbours who may find 
it their duty to go.”’ 


Scores of the men made known their purpose to go 
to the front. True to his promise, Mr. Beatty became 
their chaplain. Benjamin Franklin, who was the com- 
mander, wrote in his Autobiography: 


‘cWe had for our Chaplain a zealous Presbyterian 
Minister, who complained to me that the men did_ not 
generally attend his prayers and exhortations. When 
they enlisted, they were promised, besides pay and pro- 
visions, a gill of rum a day, which was punctually served 
out to them, half in the morning, and half in the evening, 
and I observed they were punctual in attending to receive 
it; upon which I said to Mr. Beatty, ‘It is perhaps below 
the dignity of your profession to act as the Steward of 
the men; but if you desire to distribute it out, only just 
after prayers, you would have them all about you.’ He 
liked the thought, undertook the task, and with the help 
of a few hands to measure out the liquor, executed it to 
satisfaction; and never were prayers more generally and 
impatiently attended.’’ 


Among other services performed by Mr. Beatty was 
the preaching of a thanksgiving service when Fort 
Duquesne was taken in the war, the exploration of the 
country beyond Fort Pitt, on horseback, with a view to 

175 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








preaching the gospel among the Indians, and a money- 
raising campaign in the West Indies for the College of 
New Jersey. On this trip he carried with him documents 
from Governor Penn of Pennsylvania, son of William 
Penn, as well as Governor Franklin of New Jersey, son 
of Benjamin Franklin. The expedition was ended by his 
death from yellow fever in Barbadoes. 

Mr. Beatty’s son John became a captain in the Revo- 
lution. One of his brothers also served during that con- — 
flict, and later became Secretary of State of New Jersey. 

Charles Beatty, another son, was a student at Prince- 
ton when the trouble with Great Britain began. In 
January, 1774, he wrote home a message that told how 
faithful he was to the lessons of patriotism learned in the 
home by the Neshaminy : 

‘‘TLast week we gathered all the steward’s winter store 
of tea, and having made a fire on the campus, we there 
burned over a dozen pounds, tolled the bell, and made 
many spirited resolves.’’ 

There were ten children in the Beatty family, and all 
ten had a wonderful record of patriotic service. The 
youngest, Erkuries, was but sixteen when the war began. 
But he managed to find his way into the ranks at the 
beginning. His record was superb. His son, Rev. Charles 
C. Beatty, D.D., became Moderator of the General 
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. 

Mr. Beatty’s successor in the church, Nathaniel Irwin, 
was also a worthy successor in patriotic service. He was 
so outspoken a patriot that the British longed to lay 
hands on him. Once when he was in church word came 
that the British were near. There was time only to urge 
his people to resist the oppressors, when he had to escape 
for his life. 

176 





NESHAMINY OF WARWICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, HARTSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA 
Organized in 1726 





THE LOG COLLEGE OF REV. WILLIAM TENNENT, NEAR HARTSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA 


punoisyoeg oy} UI yornyD tq eWOpy 20N 
O6LI ‘91 TINdV “UMATU GAUVAVIGG FHL NO LVOAWVALS S HOLIA NHOL 


ee 3 
ee ee Og OO LAMBRA AD TBE. ONAN tS 


crores 





NESHAMINY OF WARWICK 


One of the members of the congregation during the 
pastorate of Mr. Irwin was John Fitch. One Sunday in 
1785, while on the way home from church, Fitch had the 
inspiration which led to the building of the steamboat 
that ran on the Delaware River many years before Ful- 
ton’s Clermont appeared on the Hudson. 

He was walking with difficulty, because of rheuma- 
tism, the reminder of a surveying expedition in the West. 
An acquaintance, with his wife, passed him swiftly in a 
‘‘chair’’—a two-wheeled chaise. ‘‘I wish I could invent 
a way to travel on the roads by steam,’’ Fitch said. 

But when he tried to work out a plan for a steam car- 
riage, he had so many difficulties that he turned to the 
construction of a model for a steamboat. In this work 
Mr. Irwin gave his valued counsel and encouragement. 

When the model was tried on a pond at no great dis- 
tance from Warwick Church, it ran so well that a boat 
was constructed and put on the Delaware. 

The old church went on its uneventful way until 1838, 
when it was split by a local disagreement. Half of the 
congregation built a new church in the village, known 
since as Neshaminy of Warminster. 

For nearly eighty years the two churches have existed, 
only half a mile apart. Perhaps the day of their union 
will come, as it came to Warwick Church, which, after 
being divided by a theological dispute in 1741, came to- 
gether once more in 1758, in time to give loyal support 
to the struggling Colonies, and to the new nation in 
its beginnings. 


12 





XXVI 


INTIMATE GLIMPSES OF GERMANTOWN 
MEETING 


PASTORIUS MAKES PROTEST AGAINST STEALERS OF MEN. 
ANTHONY BENEZET AND THE PHILADELPHIA DIRECTORY OF 
TO-DAY. PROTEST AGAINST ‘‘SMOAKING TOBACCO TOO PUB- 
LICKLY.’? ASK THE GIRL’S PARENTS FIRST. JAMES LOGAN IN 
DISFAVOR. DEFEATED IN LOVE, BUT NOT A GOOD SPORT. A LOVE 
AFFAIR THAT WAS MORE FORTUNATE. A SULKY SUITOR 





HEN William Penn invited the persecuted Friends 

\\) of the Palatinate to join his Province of Pennsyl- 

vania, they decided to make the venture for the 

sake of religious freedom. They bought, in 1683, through 

the Frankfort Company, 5700 acres of land, located some 
six miles north of Philadelphia. 

On October 6, 1683, thirteen families arrived on James 
Claypole’s ship Concord. James Pastorius was the 
leader. A few weeks later they laid out Germantown. 

Before the close of the year the first meeting was 
held in the rude stone house of Dennis Conrad, who was 
then known as Thomas Kinders. Five years later this 
meeting was made memorable in the story of the Friends 
in America, because from it was sent the protest against 
slavery, of which their leader Pastorius was the writer. 
This was addressed ‘‘to ye monthly meeting held at Rich- 
ard Worrell’s,’? on the Old York Road, which is to-day 
Ogontz. In this such sentences as these appeared: 


‘“There is a saying that we should doe to all men like 
as wee will be done ourselves; making no difference of 
what generation, descent, or colour they are. And those 
who steal or robb men, and those who buy or pur- 
chase them, are they not all alike? * * * In Hurope 
there are many oppressed for conscience sake, and here 
there are those oppressed who are of a black colour. Ah! 

178 





COULTER STREET FRIENDS’ MEETING HOUSE, GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 
Third Building Since 1693 





GLIMPSES OF GERMANTOWN MEETING 


doe consider well this thing, you who doe it, if you would 
be done at this manner ?”’ 

The home meetings continued until 1690, when a log 
Meeting House was built on Coulter Street and German- 
town Road, on ground donated by Jacob Shoemaker, and 
in 1705 a stone house was built. This made way for its 
successor in 1812, and this, in turn, to the present build- 
ing, erected in 1869. 

Among those most prominent in the early history of 
Germantown Meeting were James Logan, Secretary of 
William Penn, whose home Stenton is still one of the 
hallowed shrines of Philadelphia; Isaac Norris, Speaker 
of the Pennsylvania Assembly; and Anthony Benezet, 
teacher of the Friends’ School in Germantown. 

Benezet, who came to America in 1731, was so inter- 
ested in the welfare of Negro children that he spent the 
last years of his life in teaching them. He left his small 
fortune to continue the work. Still in existence is the 
Anthony Benezet School Fund, which is administered 
from the Benezet House, at 918 Locust Street, Phila- 
delphia. Thus the name still appears in the city directory. 

In the priceless manuscript collections of the Penn- 
sylvania Historical Society, there is a blank book in 
which was written in 1719 ‘‘The Discipline of Friends.’’ 
On the blank page appears the name of Anthony Benezet. 

Extracts from this document will show the character 
of the sturdy, determined Friends of that day: 

‘*As it hath pleased the Lord in these latter Days, to 
call a People to Freedom, from under that unnatural 
and unwarrantable Yoke, So at the same time he hath 
been pleased to raise in the Hearts of his Servants in 
some good degree, the primitive Love and good Will, 
wherein they have been * * * directed by his Wisdom 
and Power; to have Meetings established for like good 
Purpose, as in the primitive Time. Therein to have 

179 


i 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ee eeswnsg=gaqnanananasS=~=0OououqO_a———m—w>w>——=m>—"' 
Oversight, Care, and Confession one over another. And 
to endeavour that all may walk humbly, decently and 
honestly, and be of one Mind, as becomes the Servants 
and Followers of our holy Lord.’’ 


Then comes an appeal to members: 


‘‘This Meeting doth therefore in brotherly Love exhort 
all Friends, that are or would be accounted Members of 
these meetings that they come together in uprightness 
and Singleness of Heart suitable to our Calling, and the 
Dignity of that Power; which as we so believe rightly 
and meekly, will provide and govern all our Meetings. 
And then wait for the Spirit of Meekness and Charity, 
which is the essential Adorning that God will beautifie, 
and cloathe his Church withal. * * *”’ 


The document tells of the ‘‘Revisal’’ of the Book of 
Discipline of 1704. Provision is made as follows: 


‘‘Besides all other Notorious Crimes, or gross Wick- 
edness, which (if any such happen) is * * * zelously 
to be taken care of and supprest. It is the Business of 
the Overseers or other weighty Friends, to speak to, and 
deal with such as are given to Hixcess of drinking, swear- 
ing, cursing, Lying * * * or any other scandalous 
practices.’? Special mention was made of ‘‘Such as are 
at Difference * * * with one another * * * Such 
as frequently neglect and do not in due Time attend Meet- 
ings * * * Such as Keep Company in order for Mar- 
riage with one not of our Profession * * * Such as 
Marry out of the Meeting of Friends * * * Such as 
eo themselves, or suffer their Children, to go to such Mar- 
riages * * * for it is astrengthening them in that Dis- 
order * * * Suchasrun Races, * * * lay Wagers, 
or use any Gaming, or needless and vain Sports, or Pas- 
times, for our time swiftly passeth away, and_our 
Pleasuer and Delight ought to be in the Law of the Lord 
* * * Queh as are guilty of Tatling, Talbearing, 
Reproaching, Backbiting, or Speaking Evil of their 
Neighbour * * * Such as Accustom themselves to 
smoaking Tobacco indecently and too publickly, as in 

180 





GLIMPSES OF GERMANTOWN MEETING 


Streets or high Roads * * * Such as sell, barter, or 
exchange directly or indirectly to the Indian, Rum, 
Brandy or any other Strong Liquers * * * Also that 
none of us be concerned in fetching, or importing Negro 
Slaves from their own Country or elsewhere.’’ 

Then there was a further important word concerning 
Marriage: 

‘‘That no man propose his Intention of Marriage; nor 
any Woman receive or Countenance such Proposition, 
when: either or both have Parents, or Guardians, and are 
under their Tuition, and Care, before the Approbation 
and Consent of such Parents or Guardians, be first had 
and obtained. And it is the Advice and Judgment of the 
Meeting; that when Parents, or Guardians, have con- 
sulted or approved of the Visits, or Address of a man on 
that account; or to a young man admitting of such 
address, They do not retract the same; without giving 
such Reason, as shall appear Sufficient, and of good 
Grounds, for so doing, to the Satisfaction of the respec- 
tive monthly meeting whereunto they belong.”’ 

James Logan, the friend of the Indians, many of whom 
camped in the grounds of Stenton or visited him in the 
house, came under the displeasure of his fellow Friends 
because, soon after he came to Philadelphia, he faced the 
necessity of driving Daniel Cooper from an island in 
the Delaware River, where he had settled. The island 
belonged to William Penn, and the presence of the New 
Jersey man could not be tolerated. Logan, in company 
with Isaac Shippen, Jr., and the Sheriff of Philadelphia, 
went to the island, armed, to arrest the squatter, who also 
was a Friend. Although no blood was shed, the Meeting 
felt that it must bring the erring brothers to account, and 
‘‘clear the Truth.’? They were compelled to write papers 
of apology, Logan being brought face to face with the 
charge of ‘‘going with armed men or suffering men to go 
in company with him in a hostile manner when he ought 

181 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ne a eS 
to have gone in a peaceable manner, according to the pro- 
fessions he makes.’’ 

On at least one other occasion James Logan was 
frowned upon by Meeting. He was a rival of Thomas 
Story, a member of the Friends, for the hand of Anna 
Shippen, daughter of the Mayor of Philadelphia. Story 
carried off the prize. Perhaps this rivalry was respon- 
sible for acts that led Story to make some unknown charge 
against Logan. The two men laid all documents in the 
case before the Meeting, and agreed to abide by its deci- 
sion. The order was that the documents should be 
burned in the presence of the two men, each declaring 
that no other papers were in existence. This was done, 
and there is no record as to the reason for the quarrel. 

In 1705 William Penn wrote to Logan from England: 

‘Some say that thy amours have so altered and influ- 
enced thee that thou are grown touchy, and apt to give 
rough and short answers, which many call haughty.’’ 

But in 1706 Logan was able to write to Penn: 

‘‘He and Lare very good friends, for I think the whole 
business is not now worth a quarrel.”’ 

Logan was more fortunate in his next love affair, 
with Sarah Read, daughter of Charles Read. To her, in 
1710, he wrote a tender love letter: 

“‘T ean find no Peace or Satisfaction, nor shall I have 
any till thee Meets with more of it in thyself in relation 
tome. * * * In the depths of my soul I earnestly 
desire of thee, if thee feels a freedom by his Divine Direc- 
tion to bestow thyself on me.”’ 

She did. So the two were married on 9th day of 10th 
month, 1714. 

It seems fitting that a daughter of that marriage, 
Hannah Logan, should become the heroine of one of the 
tenderest love stories that have come down from colonial 

182 


GLIMPSES OF GERMANTOWN MEETING 








days. John Smith, a member of a famous family con- 
nected with Burlington Meeting in New Jersey, told in his 
Journal the progress of the affair: 

‘‘The moment I saw thee I conceived a more than 
Common Regard for thee. * * * I plainly saw that 
though the Cabinet was Exquisitely formed, the mind 
lodged in it far Excelled.’’ 

At length he asked her if he might ‘‘wait upon her at 
home,’’ and if he might ask her parents’ consent if such 
attention was not absolutely disagreeable to her. She 
consented to receive a letter from him, on condition of his 
promise ‘‘not to take that for Any Encouragement.’ 

There were other suitors, many of them. One of these 
was Thomas Crosby ; Thomas Penn was told by Hannah’s 
father that she refused this man, though she could have 
had £10,000 down with him. 

In 1748 Smith gained ‘‘the fullest Assurances of a 
Reciprocal Love & Tenderness.’? In June of that year 
he followed the Logans to the Falls of Schuylkill, 
where they had gone to fish. He found her by herself, 
apologized for coming, and proceeded to enjoy ‘‘the 
pleasantest day.”? * * * 

Smith soon urged that proposals of marriage be 
brought before Monthly Meeting. But the father—‘‘The 
Old Gentleman,’’ Smith called him—was not so ready to 
consent as he had been. 

Finally, however, the arrangements were made, and 
the marriage ceremony was set for Germantown Meeting. 
Tt was found that Isaac Norris would not attend, because 
of anger that his proposals in behalf of his younger 
brother Charles, for Miss Logan’s hand, had been refused. 
Hoping to get him to forget his chagrin, Smith went to 
his home, ‘‘Fair Hill,’’ to see him, but was refused an 
opportunity to speak to him, though he was at home. ard 

183 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








set the time to ask that favor,’’ Smith recorded. So Isaac 
Norris was not present. It is recorded that he was never 
on good terms with Logan after the failure of his pro- 
posals for Hannah. 

Attention has been called to the changing attitude of 
the Meeting to the interpretation of what duty to country 
requires. During the Revolution there were some of the 
Friends who took active part in behalf of the Colonies. 
They were dealt with sternly, according to the Discipline. 
The Civil War called forth loyal, devoted service on the 
part of many, though most of the Friends preferred to 
confine themselves to ministering to the suffering Freed- 
men in the South. When Abraham Lincoln was assas- 
sinated there was prepared a Minute ‘‘expressive of the 
feeling of the Meeting.’’ In a pamphlet by Horace Mather 
Lippincott, it is stated : ‘‘This remarkable proceeding was 
unprecedented in the Society of Friends, and it is the 
only occasion when a non-member was memorialized. But 
the greatest change in sentiment was manifest during the 
Great War. ‘‘Germantown Monthly Meeting Friends, 
while generally faithful to the loftiest ideals of the 
Society’s pure principles, were nevertheless liberal and 
tender toward those who felt there were exceptional cases 
where opposition to wrong was the right course for them.”’ 

The Germantown Friends have always been numer- 
ous. For many years there was but one meeting, but in 
1827 came the separation when many ‘‘joined and 
attended a new association set up in contravention to the 
ancient established Discipline of the Yearly Meeting in 
Philadelphia.’’ This is Horace Mather Lippincott’s way 
of referring to the split of the Hicksite Friends, followers 
of Elias Hicks, of Jericho, Long Island. This defection 
led to the organization, in 1827, of the Meeting in School 
House Lane. 

184 


XXVIII 
THE TWIN CHURCHES OF CHURCH ROAD 


THE BEGINNINGS OF ST. THOMAS’ CHURCH, WHITEMARSH, ON 
‘SUMBILICAMENCE.’’ A NEW USE FOR GRAVESTONES, SOLDIERS 
TAKE TURNS IN POSSESSING THE CHURCH BUILDING. A PAS- 
TOR’S CHECKERED CAREER. STRIKING EPITAPHS. AT THE OTHER 
END OF CHURCH ROAD. AN HONEST SUBSCRIPTION PAPER FOR 
TRINITY CHURCH, OXFORD. AN ECONOMICAL INSCRIPTION. FROM 
TRINITY CHURCH, OXFORD, TO TRINITY CHURCH, TORRESDALE 


HE Whitemarsh Valley, some twelve miles from 

Philadelphia, on the old Bustleton Pike, became 

famous during the Revolution. But it was famous 
nearly one hundred years before the time when Washing- 
ton made his headquarters at Emlen House, the stately 
mansion that still lures the seeker after the antique within 
its hospitable walls. 

St. Thomas’ Protestant Episcopal Church first made 
the Whitemarsh Valley known to every Philadelphian. 
William Penn deeded several thousand acres in the beau- 
tiful valley to the family of Major Jasper Farmar, an 
officer in the British army. While the head of the house- 
hold did not live to enjoy the great Pennsylvania estate, 
his family settled there, together with their forty or more 
dependents, who lived about them, after the fashion of 
the retainers of a Kuropean baron of early days. The 
overseer of the plantation was John Scull. 

Jasper Farmar’s son Edward used to gather about 
him the retainers and their families, and read to them the 
service of the Church of England, in which he had been 
brought up. He gave land on Church Hill, or Umbilica- 
mence, as the Indians called it, to be the site of a church 
building and churchyard. Just when the first building, a 
log structure, was erected is not known, but the date was 


185 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








probably earlier than 1700. The building stood on a por- 
tion of the first churchyard. 


It is certain, however, that regular services were held 
in the log building by Rev. Evan Evans, Rector of Christ 
Church, Philadelphia, who came to Philadelphia in 1700. 
Many people liked to hear him preach who could not go 
to Penn’s green town by the Delaware; so he solved the 
difficulty by going to them as they gathered at a number 
of convenient centers. 

The log building gave way in 1710 to a sturdy struc- 
ture of stone. Congregations grew, until it was possible 
for Rev. Hugh Neill, who was Rector in 1758, to say: 
“There are about 150 attendants at church at White- 
marsh; not more than thirty are church members, while 
the rest are dissenters or young Dutch people who have 
learned English.’’ 

Unfortunately, the records of the church during the 
Revolution have been lost. But enough is known of the 
happenings of the stirring days on Church Hill, and on 
the near-by Barren Hill and Camp Hill, to make the spot 
forever memorable. 

The church building—the stone building of 1710—was 
occupied by the American forces after the Battle of Ger- 
mantown. When they moved on, Hessian troops took 
their place. They were succeeded by some of Lord 
Howe’s soldiers. Of course, the building was sadly 
injured, but the damage inflicted there was nothing to that 
done to the stones in the ancient graveyard. Many of 
these stones were flat slabs, which rested on corner sup- 
ports. These appealed to the soldiers as admirable cook- 
ing places; so they built fires underneath the stones, and 
prepared their meals on the slabs. The heat destroyed 
many of the reminders of early members of the church. 

186 


eR 


THE TWIN CHURCHES OF CHURCH ROAD 
es Ss:9900€TV—V[VwOovwno"= 
The muskets of soldiers who used the markers as targets 
were responsible for the destruction of many more. 

The beginning of desecration came after the Batile 
of Germantown, in October, 1777, when the American 
troops turned wearily to Church Hill. Their retreat was 
described by General Wayne: 

‘<The troops who took the upper road [the direct road 
from Germantown] formed at Whitemarsh Church under 
General Stephens. It was thought advisable to remain 
here for some time to collect the stragglers from the 
army. But the enemy made their appearance with an 
army of light horse and from 1500 to 2000 infantry, with 
two field pieces. The troops were ordered off, while I 
covered the rear, with some infantry and * * * dra- 
goons, but finding the enemy determined to push us hard, 
I obtained from General Stephens some field pieces, and 
took advantage of a hill which overlooked the road upon 
which the enemy were marching [the present old breast- 
work called Fort Washington]. They met with such a 
reception that they were induced to retire over the bridge 
which they had just passed, and gave up for the present.’’ 

When the British gained possession of the hill, they 
placed their cannon in the church, and fired upon the road 
at the soldiers of the Continental Army who were turning 
toward Valley Forge. 

The damage done during the war was repaired in 
1786. Thirty-one years later the church was enlarged to 
meet the needs of the growing congregation. But not 
until 1868 did the structure erected in 1710 give way to 
the edifice in use to-day. 

The rector of the church during the five years follow- 
ing 1790 was Rev. Slator Clay, who had come to Phila- 
delphia after a checkered career. He might have been a 
soldier of the Revolution but for the activity of British 
privateers who captured the vessel on which he was a 

187 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


passenger. He managed to escape from the island in 
the: West Indies where he was marooned, but when on his 
way to New York he was shipwrecked in Bermuda. There 
he taught school until his return to Philadelphia. After 
a period as deacon in Christ Church he became rector of 
St. Thomas’. 

In the cemetery and on the hill near by are a, number 
of graves of those who listened to Mr. Clay’s preaching. 
In spite of the Revolutionary troops, there are a few much 
more ancient stones. One of them tells of the burial there 
of Abigail Scull, wife of Nicholas Scull, who came to 
America with his brother John. Edward Farmar, the 
donor of the land on which the church stands, died in 1749. 
Over the body of Richard Taylor, who died 1 in. 1732, aged 
80 years, is the solemn warning: 

My life is spent 

My glass is run 

To eternity my soul is gone 
As I am now so you will be, 
Prepare therefore to follow me. 

In October, 1727, died James Allison, whose grave is 
marked by a stone which bears on one side a peculiar 
combination—a palm branch, a crude head, a wing, and 
cross bones. 

John Barge, who died in 1749, at the age of seven 
years, tells the visitor: 

From death arrest no age is free, 
Young children dye & so must we. 
Reader, since minutes fly so fast, 
Improve the present as thy last. 

From the hill on which St. Thomas’ Church looks 
down on Whitemarsh Valley, Church Road leads six miles 
to the twin Protestant Episcopal Church, Trinity Church, 

188 








‘*RINITY PROTES EPISCOPAL CHURCH, OXFORD, AT FOX CHASE, 


[VUISUQ SILT, JO JoMasivjuy ue sy Suipying yueserg yf, 
, S691 OL SNOTAMTHd LMAd ‘VINVATASNNGd ‘GuOdXO *HOUNHO ALINIUL TVdOOSIda LNGIONY,, 





THE TWIN CHURCHES OF CHURCH ROAD 


in Oxford Township, now Fox Chase. This road was built 
in early days to accommodate the clergymen who went 
between these churches, which were for many years in 
the charge of the same men. 

The early days of Trinity Church, Oxford, are as 
uncertain as those of St. Thomas’. The members of the 
church must have been formed before 1700. For in 1707 
Mr. Evans of Christ Church, Philadelphia, wrote to the 
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in London: 


‘“‘Trinity Church, in Oxford Township, lies ** * 
seven miles from the city, where, for the first few years 
after my arrival in Philadelphia, I frequently preached. 

* * When I last preached in it, there were about one 
hundred and fifty people—most of nem brought over to 
the Church of England, from Quakers, Anabaptists, and 
other persuasions.’’ 


The first house of worship was a log building. This 
had been used for a Quaker Meeting House, but when its 
proprietors became converts to the Church of England, 
they gave the property for the uses of that church. 

There is in the records of Holy Trinity Church (Old 
Swedes), Wilmington, Delaware, a curious story of an 
important day at Trinity, Oxford—May 20, 1712: 

‘We went up to Oxford where we met with six Priests, 
Mr. John Talbot from Burlington * * * and Mr. 
Evans of Philadelphia, Mr. Chubb of Apaquimani, Mr. 
Humphrey here at Oxford, Mr. Sandell of Wicacoe, 
Magister Hisselius, Herr Ledenius, and myself from 
Christina, who, after the service, laid the corner stone 
of a brick church in the place of a clapboard church.’’ 


Another curious record tells of the decision made in 
1757 to send out a subscription paper to provide funds 
‘‘for the repairing of the glebe.’’ This paper was headed, 

189 


agi Sc EO EINE TG SE WAY 20 See 

OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ee 060m 
with crude honesty, ‘‘Beging books for Glebe.’’ Follow- 
ing the heading came the words: | 


“The Congregation * * * taking into Considera- 
tion the Late Unhappy Accident that has Befallen the 
church in haveing their Ancient Glebe house, belonging 
to the Parish—consumed totally by Fire—and being Very 
Willing to Contribute all in their Power towards rebuild- 
ing the same, but Very unable to Carry on the work of 
themselves, are obliged to apply in this manner for help 
to their Christian Brethren.’’ 

The first subscriber was ‘‘his honour the Governor 
Mr. James Hamilton, Esq.’’? Following his name came 
those of Benjamin Chew, Jacob Duché, William Allen, 
and William Plumstead. 

Dr. Smith, provost of the College of Philadelphia, 
which was to become the University of Pennsylvania, 
preached for the church many times between 1766 and 
1777. In 1770 he wrote to the Secretary of the Society for 
the Propagation of the Gospel: 

‘(The great bane of the Oxford Mission, and the cause 
of the division I found among them was a lottery created 
in Mr. Neill’s time, which, instead of some hundred 
pounds which it ought to have cleared, never cleared 
thirty pounds that I can find any account for, and that 
part of the congregation which were not in the manage- 
ment of the lottery, accused the other of mismanage- 
ment which laid the foundation of quarrels scarcely yet 
healed up.’’ 

But in 1771 the teacher-clergyman told of better days: 


‘‘T have great pleasure in going to preach among 
them, and in summer fortunately, my country house, 
where my family reside, is nearer Oxford Church than to 
Philadelphia. The congregation increases much since 
we got rid of several quarrelsome people.’’ 


But a few years later Dr. Smith was in trouble, for 
reasons that redounded to his praise. He had been too 
190 


THE TWIN CHURCHES OF CHURCH ROAD 








outspoken on the subject of the people’s duty to their 
country to please the ruling powers, the Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel. So, after investigation of the 
charges made against him, he was removed from his place. 
The old cemetery contains the graves of many colonial 
worthies. One of these, Elizabeth, wife of John Roberts, 
must have been one of the Quakers who turned to the 
church. For her stone says: 
Here, by these lines, is testify’d, 
No Quaker was she when she died. 


So far was she from Quakerism, 
That she desired to have baptism. 


Jacob Leech, died in 1750: 
He was of eight born last save one, 
And one survives him now alone. 
Another stone bears witness to the economy that 
enabled some of the pioneers to give so generously to 
church causes: 


Toby 13 Nov’br 74 
-§ Died 1726 } aged 
Hester 11 Aug’st | 76 


Sunday after Sunday the people of Trinity Church 
pass by these graves on their way to service. And the 
congregation of St. Thomas’ climbs the hill which com- 
mands the valley where Washington marched with his 
noble army. 

Five miles away, at Torresdale, other earnest Church- 
men turn their steps to All Saints’ Church, which glories 
in the fact that it is a child of Trinity Church, Oxford. 

In May, 1771, Rev. William Smith, D.D., later the 
first Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, wrote 
to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel that he 
was about to erect a new church for the Swedish families 

191 


i 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








who had recently united with Oxford Church. To them 
he preached once a month. Next year a church was built 
and in 1787 the General Assembly of Pennsylvania incor- 
porated Trinity, Oxford, All Saints, Lower Dublin, and 
St. Thomas’, Whitemarsh, under one charter. This ehurch 
has been superseded, and the old building has given way 
to a proud successor, but the child of Trinity Church 
still flourishes. 





XXVIII 
IN GERMANTOWN AND FRANKFORD 


A CAPACIOUS CHURCH. A UNION EFFORT THAT FAILED. A HES- 
SIAN WHO LOST HEART. STORY OF THE MARKET SQUARE PRES- 
BYTERIAN CHURCH OF GERMANTOWN. A CHURCH FOR THE 
SWISS, WHICH BECAME THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF 
FRAN KFORD 








church ?’’ 

The question was asked by Count Zinzendorf 
of John Bechtel, who for many years combined wood- 
working on week-days and preaching on Sunday. 

‘¢ About a thousand!’’ was the surprising answer. 

The wood-working parson was speaking of what 1s 
now the Market Square Presbyterian Church, German- 
town, though when it was founded about the year 1710 
it was a Dutch Reformed Church, and was under direc- 
tion from Holland. Pastors came to it from Holland. 
one of these, Paul Van Vlecq, was installed in 1710, in 
the log building which was the first structure used by 
the congregation of Hollanders. 

Then came a curious change in the congregation. 
Among the members settled many Germans from the Pala- 
tinate, who had fled from persecution. In time there came 
to be more of the new element than of the original mem- 
bers. So it seemed perfectly natural to change the Dutch 
Reformed Church into a German Reformed Church. This 
change took place about 1732, when a stone building was 
erected to replace the log structure. 

Yet the ministers for the church continued to come 
from Holland, or were supplied by the Classis of Amster- 
dam. This was due to the fact that German immigrants 
were too poor to pay their salary. 

13 193 


“Hix: many people can you accommodate in your 


Se aan nS Sn cnn en 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Se eee eee 

The most famous of the early preachers who officiated 
in the church was Count Zinzendorf. When George 
Whitefield visited America he was troubled because he 
could, not give the Gospel to the Germans. So he wrote 
to Zinzendorf, asking him to send missionaries to the 
settlers in Germantown. One of those who responded 
was Zinzendorf himself. He was a Moravian, but he said 
he could not restrict himself in his witness to a single 
communion. 

So, on November 29, 1741, Count Zinzendorf, together 
with his daughter, Countess Benigna, and five compan- 
ions, reached Philadelphia. From the people he received 
a warm welcome, and he was especially gratified by the 
interest shown in his work by Governor Thomas, who sent 
him a letter in which he told of his pleasure in knowing 
that he was to preach to the Germans. After a few days 
spent in Philadelphia, the Count went to Germantown, 
where he preached many times in the stone building on 
Market Square, of whose capacity John Bechtel told with 
such pride. 

But Zinzendorf’s most interesting work in German- 
town was in connection with the series of monthly synods 
which he called together, a most interesting instance of 
union of effort. At the first of the synods eight German 
communions or denominations were represented. For 
the Lutheran Church, Conrad Weiser was present. The 
Reformed, Mennonite, Dunker, Sabbatarians, Schwenk- 
felder, Separatists, and Moravian Churches also were in 
conference. At first the prospect for real accord was 
eood, yet in a few weeks dissensions arose. But while 
Zinzendorf was thus disappointed in some of his efforts, 
his year in America led to provision for systematic work 
among the Indians, as well as the founding of the com- 

194 





MARKET PLACE IN GERMANTOWN, NEW MARKET SQUARE 
Reformed Church, Now Market Square Presbyterian Church, Built 1733, on the Right: 






a) aus.) ae Ce ee p56) a ere 
Wiig: <tc eae 
a eel ra 


ee 
phan he.’ 









rein, les ie tia. ge 
SY Re ret ee 


7 
ie «. 


IN GERMANTOWN AND FRANKFORD 


munity at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and of congrega- 
tions in half a dozen other places. 

One of the successors of Zinzendorf in the pulpit of 
the church in Market Square was William Story in 1757, 
who was a physician as well as a minister. History 
records that, in the face of great prejudice on the part of 
the people, he introduced inoculation against small-pox 
in Berks County, Pennsylvania. 

Another notable pastor was Christian Frederick 
Foehring, who spent three years following 1769 with the 
church. When he was an infant in Germany, his mother, 
longing to free him from the necessity of entering the 
army when he became a young man, bound him on her 
back and skated with him across the Rhine. Then she 
sailed for Philadelphia, in the land of freedom. He 
became an ardent supporter of the cause of the Colonies, 
and lost his life when fleeing from the British. 

Samuel Dubbendorf, who succeeded him, came to 
Philadelphia with the Hessians, whose chaplain he was. 
But he lost heart in his employment in the army, resigned, 
and became pastor in Germantown. It was natural that 
the resentful British soldiers should persecute him. In 
fact, all his possessions were plundered and destroyed. 

One of the most notable events in the church was the 
attendance of General Washington, who made his home in 
Germantown during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. 

Since 1853 the organization has belonged to the Pres- 
byterian church, by unanimous action of the members. 
The building it occupies is the fifth in the series from the 
original log house of 1710. 

When Mr. Foehring was pastor of the church he began 
to preach to a company of Germans in Frankford who 
lived too far away to attend the services in Market 
Square. These people had emigrated from Frankfort, 

195 


nn 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
Deen eee eee 
and had given the well-loved name to their new home. 
Among them were many Swiss from Basle who had come 
to Philadelphia. For the comfort of these assorted people 
a church was built in 1770. The cornerstone was laid by 
Mr. Foehring, a German. But it is noteworthy that the 
funds for the building were collected, and the work was 
performed by the Swiss. Leaders among the Swiss in 
this service were George Castor, Rudolph Neff, Henry 
Rohrer and Sirach Sturdy. When the building was ready 
for use the earnest builders dedicated it by a service that 
attracted attention then and is worthy of attention to-day. 
The closing words of the formal dedication were: 

‘‘Now, God Almighty, Creator of the Universe, we 
commend to thee this house which we have built in thy 
name and for thy glory. Keep in thy hands and protec- 
tion those who shall maintain it. Destroy all false doc- 
trines and all that is calculated to destroy thy word. Give 
now and forever thy grace, peace and unity. * * *” 

At first the new organization was known as the Ger- 
man Calvinistic Church, and it was cared for by the 
pastors from Germantown. But in 1807 the people asked 
to be taken under the care of the Presbytery of Philadel- 
phia, as a Presbyterian Church, thus anticipating by half 
a century the similar action of the mother church in 
Germantown. 

The Frankford Presbyterian Church rendered signal 
service to the community by beginning, in 1810, an effi- 
cient academy which helped to solve the educational prob- 
lem for many people before the days of the public school. 

The original church building was notable in connec- 
tion with the Revolution. After the Battle of Trenton, 
many prisoners were confined in the edifice. 

This building, which was enlarged in 1810, gave way 
to a new structure in 1860. 

196 





XXTX 


ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH, THE CRADLE OF > 
AMERICAN METHODISM 


WHITEFIELD AND THE BIRTH OF METHODISM IN AMERICA. A 
BEGINNING IN A SAIL LOFT, IN PRISON FOR BUILDING A CHURCH. 
WAS HE SO WEAK-MINDED, AFTER ALL? THE CENTER OF METH- 
ODISM. TESTING THE LOYALTY OF THE PREACHER. BURNING A 
TRAITOR IN EFFIGY. WHY THE BISHOP DID NOT MARRY 








HEN George Whitefield came to Philadelphia in 

1739, he preached in Christ Church. But his mes- 

sage was not acceptable to those in authority there. 
For as a member of the Holy Club at Oxford, to which 
belonged John and Charles Wesley, his messages were 
characterized by a touch that was not altogether 
pleasing to the Church of England, in which he had been 
brought up. 

But those messages were pleasing to the people. By 
hundreds and thousands they flocked to hear him, some- 
times in the open air, and later in a building erected for 
him on Fourth Street above Market. This building was 
really the birthplace of Philadelphia Methodism, as it 
was also the birthplace of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, since Benjamin Franklin’s Academy, the germ 
of the University, for a time had quarters in the White- 
field Church. 

During many years the great evangelist returned to 
Philadelphia, whenever his pilgrimages in search of 
funds for his orphange in Georgia made this convenient. 
So from time to time he preached in the church that bore 
his name, and fostered the remarkable revival spirit 
which appeared wherever he went. 

As the years passed some of those trained by Wesley 

197 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








and his followers in England came to Philadelphia, and 
mingled with some of those who had come under the 
influence of Whitefield. Some ten years or more before 
the Revolution a company of these earnest people began 
holding meetings in a rigging or sail loft, close to the 
Delaware River and Dock Creek. They found the first 
leader of whom there is record about 1767, when Captain 
Thomas Webb, a British officer who had lost an eye at the 
siege of Quebec, was transferred to Philadelphia. In 
full uniform he was accustomed to speak to those who 
gathered in the sail loft for class meeting. 

Among the members of the first class of Methodism in 
Philadelphia were James Emerson and his wife, Miles 
Pennington and his wife, Robert Fitzgerald and his wife, 
and John Hood. Lambert Wilmer, Duncan Steward, and 
Bertram Wallace, with their wives, Mrs. John Hood, 
Edward Evans, Daniel Montgomery, John Dowers, 
Edward Beach, and Mr. Croft, proprietor of the sail 
loft, soon joined the little company. 

These first Methodists might have found difficulty in 
securing a building of their own, but for what seemed 
a misfortune to another body of Christians. A portion 
of the German Reformed Church, at Fourth and Sassa- 
fras, now Race Street, left that church and decided to 
build for themselves. Securing a lot on Fourth Street, 
at the corner of what is now New Street, they began to 
build in 1768. 

But they had not calculated the cost. Unable to pay 
the builders, some of the members were imprisoned for 
debt. This was their justification for saying, with grim 
humor, to acquaintances who passed the prison where 
they were confined, that they were in prison for build- 
ing a church! 

In 1769 the Assembly ordered the unfinished building 

198 : 





THE CRADLE OF AMERICAN METHODISM 


sold for debt. At the auction the only bid was £700, made 
by a young man who was thought to be weak-minded. His 
friends wondered what he would do with the building. 

In the meantime Captain Webb and his associates 
appealed to the English Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church to send a minister to Pennsylvania. 
A call was made for volunteers, and Richard Boardman 
and Joseph Pilmoor said they would go. Both George 
Whitefield and Charles Wesley talked with them before 
they left London. 

In October the two ministers landed at Gloucester 
Point, about four miles below Philadelphia, and walked 
to the city. On the very day of their arrival, Mr. Pil- 
moor preached from the steps of the State House. Next 
Sunday, October 29, 1769, he preached at the race course, 
now Franklin Square. The judge’s stand was his pulpit. 

Within a few weeks arrangements were made with the 
young man who had bought the unfinished church build- 
ing. Hastily this was put in shape for use, and on Novem- 
ber 24 it was dedicated. A few months later the property 
was transferred to Miles Pennington, a member of the 
Methodist Society, for £650. Then it was deeded to the 
church. 

Tt had been the intention of the builders of the church 
to call it the George Church. Probably this fact was 
responsible for the determination to name the organiza- 
tion and the building St. George’s Church. 

Thus St. George’s Church, which is still in use by the 
congregation, is ‘‘the oldest church building, owned and 
now used by any body of Wesleyan Methodists in any 
part of the world.’’ 

The young congregation was flourishing when, in.1771, 
Francis Asbury and Richard Wright, Methodist min- 
isters, came to Philadelphia. These were the first two 

199 


nt Re 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 





eee S500 ——O@~_Oosww—0” 0 Ooa—ooawn—=—wawao "1 


ministers of that communion on the continent. The time 
was ripe, Wesley felt, for an assistant in America. In 
1772 Francis Asbury was appointed to the office, but in 
June, 1773, Thomas Rankin took his place. 

Soon after the appointment of Mr. Rankin, on July 14, 
1773, the first conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in America was held in St. George’s Church. 
Ten ministers, representing 1160 members in America, of 
whom 180 were in Philadelphia, were present. 

A second annual Conference followed in 1774, while 
a third was held in 1775. By that time Philadelphia was 
well entitled to its claim to be the center of American 
Methodism. It was the greatest port on the coast, and 
the most important city in the Colonies, so its choice 
was fitting. 

For a time after the beginning of the trouble with the 
mother country, the Methodists were looked on with sus- 
picion. Probably this was because the Wesleys were, of 
course, royalists. On one occasion a message came to the 
members of the church in America to be loyal to England. 

But the appeal did not meet with a cordial reception, 
as was shown by an incident that had an important part 
in showing the patriots that the Methodists were with 
them. It is related that on one occasion a New Jersey 
itinerant came to preach at a private house. 


‘¢Within a short distance of the house there was a post 
of the Continental Army. Hearing of the preaching 
service, the commander sent an officer with a file of sol- 
diers to test the loyalty of the service. As the preacher 
was about to begin the service, the officer drew up his men 
in line before the door, and, entering the room, laid his 
sword across the table that was used as a pulpit, and took 
a seat in front of it. The text was, ‘Fear not, little flock, 
for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the king- 
dom.” The preacher spoke to his congregation of some 

200 





ST. GEORGE'S METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 
This, the Oldest Methodist Church in America, Was Built in 1763, Though the Organization Dates Only from 1767 








THE CRADLE OF AMERICAN METHODISM 








of the things which they had good reason to fear, and in 
conclusion said they had no cause to fear the soldiers, 
if they were true to their country. ‘And for myself,’ the 
preached concluded, ‘if my heart beats not high and strong 
for my country’s independence, may it this moment for- 
ever cease to beat.’ Without waiting for the benediction, 
the soldiers marched back to their quarters !’’ 


During the British occupation of Philadelphia, St. 
George’s was found a convenient building. They used it 
for a hospital, then as a school for British dragoons. The 
cavalrymen found it easy to ride directly from the street 
into the first floor. On their departure in 1778 the 
building was repaired, and was once more put to its 
intended use. 

One of the most stirring scenes witnessed by St. 
George’s Church during the Revolution was the proces- 
sion, which gave expression to the public execration of 
Benedict Arnold, the traitor. The procession started 
from the rear of the church, one day in September, 1780. 
The feature of the procession was the effigy of the traitor, 
in full uniform, wearing two faces. This effigy was drawn 
through the streets on a cart, and was later burned on 
High Street Hill. 

The year following the recognition of the indepen- 
dence of America, Wesley saw that the time had come 
to give independence to the American Methodist Church. 
The first bishop was allowed $640 a year and traveling 
expenses, which included horse hire or the price of a 
new horse, horse feed, and saddle, bridle, and saddle bags. 

Frequently the salary allowance to ministers of the 
church was the same as to a bishop, though the wife was 
given a like amount, and each child had a pittance. 

It is easy to understand why Francis Asbury would 

201 


1A (es GOO MS SE SN Bk 

OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
eee SSORSOOSSSSM—a—(U—O(mno 
not marry. His reasons were made plain in his J ournal. 
On January 26, 1804, he wrote: 


‘‘ Among the duties imposed upon me by my office as 
Superintendent Bishop of America, was that of traveling 
extensively, and I could hardly find a woman with grace 
enough to enable her to live but one week in fifty-two with 
her husband. Besides, what right has any man to take 
advantage of a woman, make her his wife, and, by a vol- 
untary absence, subvert the whole order and economy of 
the marriage state, by separating those whom neither 
God, Nature, nor the requirements of civil society, per- 
mit long to be put asunder? It is neither just nor gen- 
erous. I may add to this that I had but little money, and 
with this little I administered to the necessities of a 
beloved mother till I was fifty-seven. If I have done 
wrong, I hope God and the sex will forgive me. It is now 
my duty to bestow the pittance I have to spare upon the 
widows, and fatherless children, and poor married men 
of the conference.’’ 


With such devoted men and women in pulpit and pew 
the Methodist Church has grown from its small begin- 
nings illustrated by St. George’s Church in 1769 to its 
proud position in the nation to-day. 


NRO 
OLD ST. DAVID’S CHURCH AT RADNOR 


AN OLD PETITION. BUILDING A CHURCH OF THE PIONEERS. NOT 
ENOUGH PEWS. IRREVERENT THIEVES AND THEIR LOOT. HE 
BROKE HIS ‘‘KNEPAN’’ AND SLEPT UNDER A TREE. AN INCON- 
SOLABLE WIDOWER QUICKLY CONSOLED. REVOLUTIONARY EXPE- 
RIENCES. LONGFELLOW AND ST. DAVID’S 


66 HE Welsh at Radnor and Merioneth, in the prov- 
ince of Pennsylvania, have addressed my Lord at 
London (having a hundred hands to their peti- 

tion), for a minister to be settled amongst them that 

understands the Brittish language, there being many 
ancient People among those inhabitants that doe not 
understand the English, and could a sober and discreet 
man be procured to undertake that mission, he might be 
capable, by the blessing of God, to bring in a Plentifull 

Harvest of Welch Quakers.”’ 

So wrote Rev. Evan Evans, rector of Christ Church, 
Philadelphia, to the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospelin London. This was in 1707, seven years after he 
had begun to conduct services for the people of the Welsh 
Tract to whom William Penn had granted land in 1685. 

St. David’s Church had had its beginning, in accord- 
ance with the provision inserted in Penn’s patent for 
lands in America, by the Bishop of London, who insisted 
‘‘that wheresoever 20 inhabitants requested a minister 
of the Church of England to reside among them, he should 
be allowed to do so without molestation.”’ 

In response to the appeal of Mr. Evans, and others 
made later, Rev. John Clubb, who had done much pioneer 
work in other churches near Philadelphia, was commis- 
sioned in 1714 to do missionary work at Radnor and 
at Oxford. 

203 


3 | 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


The Radnor people eagerly promised to build. On 
September 7 of that year at an enthusiastic meeting they 
pledged the erection of a handsome stone church. Per- 
haps there had been a temporary log building before this 
time, but of this there is no positive record. 

As is frequently the case when a public building is to 
be erected, there was much difference of opinion as to the 
site. The presence of a spring on one of the suggested 
sites was the determining factor. The owner of the land . 
gave permission to fence off five acres of his property for 
the purpose of the church, but no deed was made. 

Little time was lost in getting to work. According to 
Julius F. Sachse, ‘‘stone was prepared, limestone quar- 
ried and hauled from Great Valley, preparatory to burn- 
ing into lime, sand obtained, timber felled, hewn and 
squared, shingles split and shaved, while by aid of a pit- 
saw, scantling was prepared for the frame and doors. 
The magnitude of the undertaking will appear when the 
fact is taken into consideration that most of the work was 
done during the inclement weather of the winter, and 
that everything devolved upon the fifteen families which 
composed the congregation.” 

The cornerstone was laid on May 9, 1715. The sub- 
stantial stone building erected was forty feet long by 
twenty-six feet broad. At first there was no floor but the 
earth; there was, of course, no flue and no stove, and those 
who desired seats had to provide them for themselves. 
As late as December 5, 1763, ‘‘the vestry granted to 
Robert Jones the privilege to build a Pew on a piece of 
eround in St. David’s Church, adjoining Wayne’s and 
Hunter’s Pew, he paying for ye ground £4, 10s.” 

Pews were not built by the vestry until 1771. At the 
same time the limited accommodations for worshipers 
were increased by the addition of a gallery. Access to 

204 





ST. DAVID’S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, RADNOR, PENNSYLVANIA 
Erected 1715 





GATE AND WALL OF ST, DAVID’S CHURCH 


ST. DAVID’S CHURCH IN WINTER 





OLD ST. DAVID’S CHURCH AT RADNOR 


this gallery was possible only by means of the stairway 
enclosed in the stone addition at one end of the build- 
ing. The father of General Anthony Wayne, who was 
a vestryman at the time, was a leader in making 
the improvements. 

A Philadelphia paper published in 1742 contained an 
advertisement that affords a glimpse of the meager 
church furnishings of the day: 


‘Some time last week the Church in Radnor township, 
Chester County, was broke open and a Chest therein, 
which was bound with Iron Hoops, was also broke open, 
and the following Goods stole out of the same, 2z.: one 
large folio Bible, almost new, with Cuts and the Arms 
of the Honorable Society on it and writing in several 
places, one quarto Bible, almost new; one black Gown 
made of fine Spanish Cloth, one Chalice, two Plates, and 
one Bason, being stamped ‘Radnor Church.’ Whosoever 
will apprehend and secure the Felons, so that they may 
be brought to Justice, shall receive Five Pounds as a 
Reward from the Minister and Wardens of the said 
Church.’’ 


An early pastor of the church was Rev. Griffith 
Hughes. On September 10, 1735, in a letter sent to Hng- 
land, he gave the following interesting details of the life 
of a pioneer missionary: 


‘Lately on my way to Perquihoma Church I had the 
misfortune to break my knepan, which continues tho upon 
the mending hand very weak, so that it is Impossible for 
one in my present Condition to Serve that Church in a 
Regular order this present winter. That and severall 
other hardships which I have with pleasure almost 
endured on my severall Journeys to preach among the 
Back Inhabitants hath very much Impaired my health 
being often obliged in the day to want the Common neces- 
saries of Life and in the night to be Contented with the 
shade of a Large tree for a Lodging. As for my Congre- 
gation at Radnor it is in a very flourishing condition.’’ 

205 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








One of the successors of Mr. Hughes was Mr. William 
Carson, who was ordained after his appointment to Rad- 
nor in 1737. His long pastorate was saddened by the 
death of his wife in 1771. He spoke of this as ‘‘the sorest 
Stroke I ever met with.”? On March 28, 1772, he acknowl- 
edged the receipt of the sympathizing letter of the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel. But in six months 
he was writing once more: 

‘‘Being extremely destitute and incapable of manag- 
ing my numerous Family consisting of Children, Grand- 
children and Old Negroes, without a Wife, I was induced 
to marry again. I made choice of a Widow Gentlewoman 
of my own congregation, who, being a prudent religious 
Woman of a suitable age, fifteen years younger than 
myself, without any encumbrance and a remarkable Good 
Manager, seems every way qualified to render my future 
life comfortable.’’ 

St. David’s Church figured prominently in the his- 
tory of Revolutionary days. A number of the important 
movements of the early period of the war took place 
within a short distance of the building. Valley Forge 
is only a few miles away, while the scene of the Paoli 
Massacre is also near by. 

General Anthony Wayne was the third vestryman in 
his family, in direct descent. Many other so-called Rebels 
were in the membership. These outnumbered the Loyal- 
ists, so that it was not easy for the rector to read the 
prayer for the King of England. In more than one 
church when the prayer was read, the preacher was asked 
to resign. 

Services were then interrupted until after the close 
of the war. Instead of parishioners, soldiers gathered in 
the building from time to time. Both Continentals and 
British were quartered here. At one time the leaden win- 
dow sills were molded into bullets for the Continental 

206 





OLD ST. DAVID’S CHURCH AT RADNOR 





Army. After the Battle of Brandywine a number of Brit- 
ish soldiers were buried in the churchyard. 

In 1809 the body of General Wayne was brought to 
the church from Presque Isle, where he died. The stone 
over his grave was erected by the Pennsylvania State 
Society of the Cincinnati. 

One of the noted visitors to the church was Henry W. 
Longfellow, who was present at services in May, 1876. 
A writer in the Boston Herald said, in 1881, that the poet 
spoke with enthusiasm of ‘‘its diminutive size, peculiar 
architecture, the little rectory in the grove, the quict 
churchyard * * * the great tree which stands at the 
gateway, and the piles of gray stone which make the old 
church and are almost hidden by the climbing ivy.’’ 
Later, Longfellow wrote: 


‘“What an image of peace and rest 
Is this little church among its graves! 
All is so quiet, the troubled breast, 
The wounded spirit, the heart oppressed, 
Here may find the repose it craves.’ 


The old church is still in use by a congregation which 
rejoices in the knowledge that the building presents, in 
all essentials, the same appearance as in the days before 
the Revolution. It has been called one of the most inter- 
esting historical landmarks of Pennsylvania. | 


earn ifs IC arcs ces rere ar 


XXXI 
EARLY DAYS AT FAGG’S MANOR 


ON THE LAND OF LETITIA PENN. FAMOUS PREACHERS AT THE 
MANOR MEETING HOUSE. PIONEERS IN EDUCATION. CURIOUS 
CASES OF DISCIPLINE. WHY WILLIAM AND MARY WERE URGED 
to ‘‘DROP ALL CLAIM UPON EACH OTHER.’’ A WOMAN WHO 
WAS A PARAGON 
eee al 
N THE northwestern part of Chester County, on Octo- 
| rara Creek, five thousand acres of land were granted 
by William Penn to his daughter Letitia. The tract 
was named Sir John Fagg’s Manor, in honor of Sir John 
Fagg, a relative of the Penns. On a bit of land in a corner 
of this tract a Presbyterian church was built at an early 
date. The builders tried to call it New Londonderry, but 
they were compelled to substitute the neutral ‘‘Fagg’s 
Manor.’? And as Fagg’s Manor the church is known to 
this day. Many of the early records called it, more simply, 
‘‘Wag’s Manor.’’ But the building occupied by the con- 
gregation was long known as The Manor Meeting House. 

The tract deeded to the church came directly from 
Christiana Gulielma Penn, daughter of William Penn, the 
nephew of Letitia Penn Aubrey, who inherited from the 
first William Penn. The price paid for more than nine 
acres was £7. The purchase was concluded in 1742, when 
the congregation was about to rebuild. 

The organization dates at least from 1730, for the first 
building was erected in that year. But it was not so easy 
to secure a minister as a building. The records of the 
Associated Presbytery of Edinburgh, Scotland, tell of the 
application of the congregation for a minister in 1734. 
There was no minister to send, so Fagg’s Manor had to 
wait until 1739. 

208 





EARLY DAYS AT FAGG’S MANOR 








But it was worth while to wait. For the pastor who 
then came to them was one of the greatest men in the 
early Presbyterian Church, and one of the most eloquent 
preachers in pioneer days, Rev. Samuel Blair. For hima 
second commodious building was erected to accommodate 
the large assemblies that flocked to hear the gifted man. 
This building, of brick, was put up in 1743. His pastorate 
was notable for two things. The first was the great 
revival which swept the congregation. This was typical 
of the revivals of that day throughout the Colonies, and of 
other and similar occurrences in the history of the church. 

In 1740 George Whitefield paid two visits to the con- 
gregation. The people crowded to hear him. It is 
recorded that on both occasions twelve thousand people 
gathered about him in the open air. Of course many of 
them came from distant parts. Some hailed from Phila- 
delphia. Wherever the famous evangelist went men and 
women followed him. 

In his Journal Whitefield wrote: ‘‘Look where I 
would, most people were drowned in tears. . . . Their 
bitter cries and tears were enough to pierce the hard- 
est heart.’’ 

The second incident of the pastorate was the interest 
in the education of men for the ministry of the infant 
Presbyterian Church in the Colonies. This interest was 
shown first in 1740, when the Session adopted a notable 
minute: 

‘‘Being sensible yt the coming of godly men into ye 
ministry .. . has ye most hopeful aspect upon ye 
interests of Christ’s Kingdom . . . and being apprized 
that there are several very promising and hopeful youths 
under ye care & instruction of the Revd. Mr. Tennent at 
Neshaminy . . . we think the yielding them our Assist- 
ance by Contributing to their support . . . one of the 
best ways in we our charity can be bestowed . . .” 

14 209 


LE Stes OBIS TUS ee 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
a 

The interest in education of men for the ministry was 
further shown in the beginning of an academy, taught by 
the pastor, where many of the men famous in the early 
church were trained, including Rev. Samuel Davies, Pres- 
ident of the College of New Jersey; Rev. John Rodgers, 
D.D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New 
York City ; and, later, Rev. John McMillan, D.D., to whom 
has been given much credit for the successful beginnings 
of religious work beyond the Alleghenies, in the vicinity 
of Pittsburgh. One of his services there was the founding 
of Chartiers Academy. This became a part of Jefferson 
College, which was later merged into Washington and 
Jefferson College, where more than one thousand min- 
isters have been trained. 

A record book kept during Mr. Blair’s pastorate tells 
of many cases of discipline. A member was called on to 
make acknowledgment of his sin in turning cattle into the 
grain field of his neighbor. A woman was condemned for 
using petty oaths, ‘‘such as, faith, and ye like.’? A shoe- 
maker was condemned because he abused a fellow-mem- 
ber ‘“‘by strokes as well as words.’? On a number of 
occasions men were called up for becoming drunk at Pub- 
lic Vendues. Very properly condemnation was visited not 
only on them, but on those who furnished the liquor: 

‘¢We think yt they who so liberally provide and plenti- 
fully bestow strong Drink on these occasions, and they 
that have ye distribution of it and so favorably hold it to, 
and even press it on the pleasing Bidders, are not only 
accessory to others’ Drunkenness, but are also guilty of 
eross fraud and injustice; elevating men beyond ye solid 
sober exercise of their Reason, that so they may get ye 
better prices for their goods, and get advantage to them- 
selves, from the others’ incapacity and folly.”’ 

A case of an entirely different nature came up in 1741 
«n connection with ‘‘a purpose of marriage,’’ announced 


210 


2 Ee A seat A dat no ee RIE ee ea 
EARLY DAYS AT FAGG’S MANOR 


e6e60u0_<0_jK}jojwwwtnnwnS—sS—SsSooOoOoOoOq=~aooo 
between Thomas Gibson and Mary Walden. On this 
occasion, the usually formal announcement that objec- 
tions to the union might be filed, brought forth the com- 
plaint of William Corsby that the bride-to-be had 
promised to marry him. Of course all parties to the dis- 
pute were brought before the Session. Mary owned up; 
she had promised ‘‘sd William.’? But she said she was 
unwilling to marry him. William thereupon said that 
he was unwilling to be married to her ‘‘ against her Will 
& pleasure.’’ 
The solemn judgment of the court was given: 





‘*In ye first place, That it was very sinful & offensive 
to God for William Corsby to insist for such positive & 
unreserved promises from her; as also, sinful for her to 
make them . . . The Session does also declare yt was 
sinful in her to take up any other Resolutions afterwards 
contrary to her sd engagements . . ; and moreover, yt 
sd William if he would insist upon it, might oblige sd 
Mary in conscience to marry him pursuant to her express 
promises & engagements. But inasmuch as he is not 
desirous (and we think, wisely) that she should be bound 
to him against her inclination, and she being disinclin’d & 
averse to it, The Session does judge, that, seeing of two 
evils we should choose the least, it is most advisable for 
them, as things are thus circumstanced at present, by 
mutual consent to give up their Rights to each other and 
repent their forementioned sins. N. B. They both accord- 
ingly did, before ye Session, release, & drop all Claim 
upon each other.’’ 


The successor of the pastor who presided over the 
meeting of the Session that made the sapient decision in 
the case of Mary Walden was his brother, Rev. John 
Blair whose educational work in Fage’s Manor Academy 
was continued when, after ten years he went to the Col- 
lege of New Jersey, as one of the faculty. 

A minister who died during his pastorate, Job Ruston, 

211 


Sn a na nT 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ee —————————————————————————————eeeoooeoeoeoelysqonaeaeeaeaqaeS oom 
left a legacy considered remarkable in those days of small 
means—one hundred pounds. This legacy was later 
used in constructing the new church. This Mr. Ruston 
had a wife, whose tombstone in the churchyard bears a 
quaint inscription: 

Here lies the body of Mary, Wife of Job Ruston, 
Who died the 19th of June, 1757, 


Aged 39 years. 
She bore unto him in 22 years twelve children. 


The dame that lieth underneath this tomb, 
Had Rachel’s face, and Leah’s fruitful womb ; 
Abigail’s wisdom, Lydia’s open heart, 

With Martha’s care, and Mary’s better part. 

A new building was erected by the church in 1775, and 
this served until the construction of that now occupied, in 
1845. Inthe building the material of the earlier structure 
was utilized, so that later members have been able to feel 
that they were worshiping in a church that stood during 
the stirring days of the Revolution—a struggle in which 
the congregation had an earnest and devoted part. It has 
been remodeled several times, but it is still, in the main, 
the building of early days. 





XXXIT 


FOUR SUBURBAN PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL 
CHURCHES 

*fAN ILL ACCIDENT’’ TO THE RECORDS OF ST, JOHN’S, CONCORD. 
A RECORD OF ST. JOHN’S, PEQUEA, THAT CALLS FOR A LONG 
BREATH. BRINGING THE CONTRIBUTORS TO TIME. HE STOLE 
THE CHURCH’S ‘‘SCANTLINS.’’ THIEVES IN ST. JAMES’, PER- 
KIOMEN. WASHINGTON’S COMMENT IN THE BURYING GROUND. 
FAMOUS PATRONS OF ST. JAMES’, BRISTOL 





fe 





OWN in what is now Delaware County, where the 
associates of William Penn found delight in home- 
making, one of the early Protestant Episcopal 

churches of Pennsylvania—St. John’s, Concord, close to 
the town. of Ward—had its beginning at a date so early 
in the history of Pennsylvania that it cannot be placed. 
The only light thrown on the time by the records of the 
church is the naive entry on the margin, by the side of 
an item dated in 1727: 

‘‘The fore parts of this book, having met with an ill 
accident, it was thought best to remove them,?? 

What was the accident? Did the rector’s little son 
embellish them with his drawings? Or did some disil- 
lusioned bridegroom cut out from them the record of his 
marriage? Perhaps the clerk spilled his bottle of ink 
over the closely written pages. 

There is a tradition that the dark secret will be dis- 
closed some day when the cornerstone of the present 
church building is opened; it is said they were deposited 
there when the church was built in 1844. But since the 
successor to the original log building is a dignified and 
well proportioned building on the order of a Greek shrine, 
it is not likely that investigation will be made very soon. 

The absence of the pages is perhaps a good thing. It 

213 


SOA Masaa ann see cece ond nO nn CY 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


ee 
enables the advocates of early origin to say that St. 
John’s dates back to 1698, and so was a contemporary of 
Christ Church, Philadelphia. 

One of the boasts of the church is that it was close 
to the Battle of the Brandywine, and that the record of 
its members was as patriotic as the location. 

Farther back from the Delaware River another Prot- 
estant Episcopal church tells with certainty of days 
almost as early as those to which St. John’s can point defi- 
nitely. This is St. John’s Church of Pequea, whose 
Vestry Book has an introductory record too unique to be 
omitted from this chronicle. Take a long breath and read: 


“We Adventurers from those parts of his Majesty’s 
Dominion called England Scotland & Ireland transplant- 
ing ourselves & Families into America & taking up our 
first Settlement in The Township of Pequay Lancaster 
County & in ye Township of Salisbury Chester County, 
both in ye Province of Pennsylvania We from a due sense 
of Duty to God, feeling no part of ye Universe agreeable 
to us without a place of Publick Worship Wherein we 
might perform Divine Adoration of ye God Creator of 
ye Universe after Ye Manner & Form of ye Hipiscopal 
church of England & yt for ye Good of our Immortal Souls 
as well as those of our Posterity; We therefore Accord- 
ing to our small abilities did erect in ye Year of our Lord 
1729 a Wooden Frame Church.”’ 


Now let the Vestry book tell more of the early his- 
tory in its delightful manner: 


‘‘The first Minister was Revd Richard Backhouse ye 
Society’s missionary at Chester Came First Tuesday 
every month until ye year 1739 When ye Revd John 
Blackhall entered upon ye Cure at ye Request of ye Con- 
eregation, & attended ye same about three years. He then 
removed to ye Borrough of Lancaster The Revd Mr. 
Backhouse took ye cure again & officiated as formerly 
until ye year 1750, when he departed this life. In 1753 

214 


oS ESI ene aE ae Lea NE EL A 
FOUR SUBURBAN EPISCOPAL CHURCHES 








The Wooden Church being decayed, It was thought 
advisable to erect a New Church of Stone.’’ 


Among the contributors to the ‘‘New Church’’ were 
John Skyles, Peter Skyles, Peter Rutter, Conrad Rutter, 
Henry Cowen, John Cowen, George Ross, John Darling- 
ton, Archibald Douglass and Isaac Richardson. 

The pews were built by members of the congregation 
for their own use, on spaces allotted to them. But an 
entry made in the Vestry Book on May 27, 1759, showed 
that some were dilatory in taking advantage of their 
privileges, and that summary penalties were to be exacted 
of them. If they did not build within three months they 
would forfeit all their claims to the space allotted to them. 

In 1768 the official records noted that John Miller was 
charged with having ‘‘privately [note that word pri- 
vately] taken out of the Vestry House some Timber and 
Scantling * * * designedforaGallery * * * tothe 
value of at least ten shillings.”? 

The offender was to be bound over for trial. But, 
after arrangements for his prosecution had been made, 
the case was settled out of court. A part of the arrange- 
ment was that the culprit should subscribe to the follow- 
ing abject confession: 


‘‘Whereas I, the subscriber, have indiscretely and for 
want of due attention some time since taken from St. 
John’s Church at Pequa some Seasoned scantlin belong- 
ing to the Congregation of the Church, without the con- 
sent and approbation of the Members of that Church, or 
any of them, And did also very indiscretely order some 
of my Servants to drive and enclose my cattle by night 
in the Burying-Ground of the said church, whilst my Corn 
was growing and near Ready for Reaping for all which I 
am extremely sorry, and am willing to make the Congre- 
gation every Satisfaction in my Power, and Pray their 
Charitible forgiveness of my Indiscretion, and trust I 


215 


SR No UO ee 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


ee 
shall hereafter behave and act towards the Church and 
People as becomes a Christian Brother.’’ 


As in so many other churches there are no records for 
the years from 1776 to 1783. Probably the members as 
well as the Rector were so taken up with their duties to 
their country that the services of the church had to 
be omitted. | 

But in 1785 entries were being made as usual. One 
dated in that year is a curious specimen. It began : 


‘Whereas they members of the Congregation of the 
Protestant Episcopal church of St. John’s in Pequea, 


takeing into consideration the Ruinous & unprofitable 
State of the Tract of Glebe land held by them for the 
support of a Minester of the Sd church. * * *” 


Then it went on to 

‘‘Bee the Honourable the Legislature that a Law 
might be passed Enabling them by Trustees to be 
appointed in Sd Law, to Sell and Dispose of the said tract 
of Glebe Land, for the Best & highest price that Could be 
Gotten for the Same.”’ 

The land was duly sold, and the proceeds were applied 
‘to fulfill the Pious And Religious Intention, towards the 
decent Support & Maintenance of Regular Menester of 
the Word of God.”’ 

In 1794 ‘‘in consequence of the Late Malignant Epi- 
demick fever Which prevailed in Philadelphia in the fall 
of 1793 a Donation was made by the Congregation of St. 
John’s Church, Pequea, which amounted to £23.5.0 or 
sixty-five Dollars.’’ 

The congregation was still occupying the early church 
building. Forty-five years after making the generous 
donation to the yellow fever sufferers, it was decided to 
build an ambitious house of brick, at least 69 feet by 
40 feet. 

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“FOUR SUBURBAN EPISCOPAL CHURCHES 








Those who drive along the roads that lead from Phila- 
delphia have become acquainted with another of the out- 
lying ancient Protestant Episcopal churches—that of St. 
James’, Perkiomen, or Perquahoma, as it was called in 
the old days. This church is near Evansburg Road, a 
short distance from the Ridge Road. The name of the 
road is fitting, because of the work of Rev. Evan livans 
for the church. 

The earliest reference to this work is in a report of 
Mr. Evans, in 1704, in which he told of preaching at Per- 
quahoma for four years. This seems to fix the beginning 
of the church in 1700. Then on August 27, 1709, he wrote 
to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel a letter 
in which he said: 

‘¢On next Monday I am to preach at a new settlement 
called Perquomon, in the county of Philadelphia, twenty- 
four miles to the west of this place, where I am to baptize 
a whole family of Quakers, to the number of sixteen,’’ 

Aside from these references, there are no records 
before 1730. The log church used in the beginning was 
replaced in 1721 by a substantial stone church. One of 
the earliest entries in the Vestry Book tells of the gift, 
in 1732, by William Lane, of forty-two acres, adjoining 
the church. On this ground much of the lower part of 
Evansburg was built, and the church still enjoys the rev- 
enue accruing from the ground rent. 

There were in those days thieves who were not afraid 
of robbing a church. On May 6, 1738, the log building was 
broken open, and a pulpit clock and a pewter communion 
service were taken, with other objects. With proper hor- 
ror and commendable generosity William Moon and 
Henry Pawling promised five pounds as a reward for the 
arrest of the thieves. It would be interesting to know if 
a claim was made for the amount, 

Q17 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


Like so many other churches in the vicinity of Phila- 
delphia, St. James’ was during the Revolution a center 
of activity. After the Battle of Brandywine Washing- 
ton and his army retreated northward, first to Warwick, 
~ and thence across the Schuylkill, encamping on both sides 
of the Perkiomen on September 19,1777. On the morning 
of September 20 a council of war was held in the rectory. 

After the Battle of Germantown the church was used 
as a hospital. Perhaps one hundred soldiers are laid in 
nameless graves in the burial ground across the turnpike 
from the present building. A bowlder, suitably inscribed, 
tells of the fact. 

In that burial ground one of the notable stones is: 

‘‘In memory of Captain Vachel D. Howard, of Mary- 
land Light Dragoons, who departed this life March 5, 
1777, aged thirty years ‘in defense of American liberty.’ ”’ 

Tt is recorded that when Washington was President he 
went out from Philadelphia and asked the sexton to be 
shown this grave. 

‘“‘Tt is the grave of a brave man,’’ was the comment 
of the man who had led the colonial armies to victory. 
‘‘T knew him well,’’ he added. 

At first the people worshiped in a building among the 
graves. But since 1843 they have entered the building 
across the way. That building looks more ancient than 
itis. And the history of the church lends to the structure 
such charm that it seems like a relic of the days of the 
Revolution. and before. 

St. James’ Church possessed many relics. One of 
these is the stone from the gable of the former building, 
bearing this inscription: ‘‘J. 8.’’ ‘‘J. P.’? ‘“Warden, 
1721.’ The reference is probably to James Shattuck and 
John Pawling. But perhaps the greatest relic of all is 
the old stone building which was long used as a parish 

218 


FOUR SUBURBAN EPISCOPAL CHURCHES 


school. This was erected certainly before 1732, and was 
long used by the church for its Sunday school. Now, as 
the Mortuary Chapel, it is beautifully decorated within 
and without, and is a quaint addition to the landscape. 

Another St. James’ Church within reach of Phila- 
delphia is nearly as old as St. James’, Perkiomen—St. 
James’, Bristol, on the Bristol Road, northeast of Phila- 
delphia. 

Back of the organization of this church in 1711 is an 
interesting story. Bristol was at first a Quaker com- 
munity, but when George Keith, the Quaker minister, 
made known his doctrine of ‘‘the inner light,’’ many of 
the Bristol Friends, like those in other places, followed 
his teaching. 

After a time Keith went to England, and there his 
transition to the ministry of the Church of England was 
completed. Soon he was appointed the first missionary 
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Amer- 
ica, Where there was then but one clergyman of that com- 
munion, Mr. Evans, of Christ Church, Philadelphia. 
Among the hundreds whom Mr. Evans baptized during 
the absence of George Keith were many of the Bristol 
people, who had followed Keith’s teachings. 

The chaplain on board the vessel on which the new 
missionary was a passenger was Rev. John Talbot, also, 
of course, a minister of the Church of England. When he 
heard the enthusiastic missionary tell of the work to be 
done in the new country, he, too, decided to go to America. 

Ultimately the ex-chaplain became founder and rec- 
tor of St. Mary’s Church, Burlington. Just over the 
Delaware from his New Jersey home was Bristol. There 
he went frequently to conduct services, and there he 
organized a church. 

The site for the building and burial grounds was given 

219 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








by Andrew Burton, and the church, according to the old 
record book, was ‘‘built by subscription of several well 
disposed persons and, being finished, was dedicated to the 
honor of St. James the Greater.’’ This first building was 
one story high, and was composed of brick and stone. 

When Queen Anne learned of this latest representa- 
tive of the Church of England in Pennsylvania, she sent 
to it one of the communion services she was fond of donat- 
ing on such occasions. 

One of the early vestrymen was John Abram de Nor- 
mandie, descendant of a family famous in Europe for its 
civil and religious service. One member of the family was 
executor of the will of John Calvin, one of the heroes of 
the Reformation. The first of the name to come to Amer- 
ica was André de Normandie, who emigrated to Bristol in 
1706. The sons died in 1748 and 1757, and were buried 
in the churchyard of St. James’. 

Some of the descendants of the De Normandies were 
loyal to the Colonies during the Revolution. Unfor- 
tunately, the rector of St. James’ favored England. The 
church suffered in consequence. The building was dis- 
mantled, and much of the furniture was destroyed. The 
building, then a mere shell, was used as barracks by a 
regiment of colonial cavalry, and when Bristol was a 
center of Washington’s operations before the Battle of 
Trenton, General Cadwalader quartered the officers in it. 
And as the British when they were in Philadelphia cap- 
tured Bristol also, the quiet river town had ample experi- 
ence of the soldiers of both forces. 

After the war the church and its surroundings were 
so desolate that, even as late as 1806, one who had been 
a member of the parish directed that his body be buried 
in Bensalem, rather than in Bristol, where the grave 
might be violated. 

220 








FOUR SUBURBAN EPISCOPAL CHURCHES 


After 1808, however, regular services were resumed. 
For a time, after 1810, the church had the distinction of 
being served by Dr. James Andrews, Provost of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. 

The old church served after a fashion for many years, 
but in 1857 the present structure displaced it. It is of 
Byzantine architecture, and its Trenton brown stone with 
the bead moulding and corbels, makes it noteworthy. 

In the cemetery stones tell of the burial of Captain 
John Clark, of the Bristol Troop, and Captain John 
Green, who was the first to carry the American flag 
around the world. 


a 


XXXITIT 


THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE 

FREE QUAKERS 
BRAVING THE WRATH OF FELLOW-QUAKERS. A BRAVE PROCLA- 
MATION. FRIENDS IN WASHINGTON’S ARMY. STATEMENT OF 
MEETING. LIBERTY-LOVERS FORM A NEW SOCIETY. AN APPEAL 
FOR RIGHTS DENIED. A NEW MEETING HOUSE. THE REASON 
FOR THE INSCRIPTION. FAMOUS MEMBERS WHO HAD FEW 
SUCCESSORS 








whose Diary gives such a wonderful day-by-day 

view of Philadelphia during the Revolution, told 
of Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia when the Friends 
‘‘sent forth an epistle that has given great offence to the 
friends of freedom and liberty in America.’’ This was in 
accordance with the teaching of non-resistance and non- 
participation in the affairs of government in time of war. 

On July 24, 1775, he told of ‘‘meetings daily among 
the Quakers, in order, if possible, to defend the pacific 
proceedings of the Continental Congress.”’ 

But in spite of the stern attitude taken by the Quakers, 
frowning upon every attempt on the part of a Friend to 
support the Colonies in their rebellion against the mother 
country, many of their members braved the wrath of their 
brethren. On May 3, 1775, Marshall told of ‘‘a company 
of young men, Quakers, who this day asked leave of the 
manager to have their military exercises in the Factory 
yard, which was granted.”’ Next day he wrote of these 
young Quakers: ‘‘Such is the spirit and alacrity of 
them that few, if any, of the companies will sooner learn 
the military art and discipline, and make a handsomer 
appearance, nor be more ready to assert, at the risk 

222 


()* SEPTEMBER 24, 1774, Christopher Marshall, 


A= 


i i 





RISE AND DECLINE OF FREE QUAKERS 








of their lives, the freedom of America on constitu- 
tional principles. ’’ 

Such experiences as these led Friends in 1776 to make 
a fervent address ‘‘to our Friends and Brethren in Relig- 
ious Profession, in this and adjacent Provinces.’? The 
address as preserved in a Broadside in the collection of 
the Historical Society of Pennsylvania reads: 


‘*We may with Christian firmness and fortitude with- 
stand and refuse to submit to the iniquitous ordinances of 
men who assume to themselves the power of compelling 
others, either in person or by other circumstances, to join 
in carrying on war .. . by imposing tests not war- 
ranted by the precepts of Christ, or the law of the Con- 
stitution under which we and others long enjoyed 
tranquillity and peace. 

‘We therefore exhort, admonish, and caution all who 
make religious profession with us, and especially our 
beloved youth, to stand fast in that liberty wherewith, 
thro’ the manifold sufferings of our predecessors, we 
have been favoured, and steadily to bear our testimony 
against any attempt to deprive us of it. 

‘‘Let not the fear of suffering, either in person or 
property, prevail on any to join with or promote any work 
or preparation of war. 

‘*Signed, in behalf of the Meeting for Sufferings, held 
in Philadelphia . . . the 20th day, the 12th Month, 
1776. John Pemberton, Clerk.’’ 


Isaac Sharpless, historian of the Friends, throws 
further light on the attitude of some members of Meeting 
in those days of stress. He says: ‘‘ About one-fifth [else- 
where he stated that the actual number was about four 
hundred] of the Adult Male Friends in Philadelphia had 
joined the American Army, or taken places under the 
Revolutionary government. A very small number [else- 
where he says there were about a score] had as openly 
espoused the cause of the king. The large majority, 

223 


NRA TISENG SSS TOSS GS ee ee 
OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
eee ee eee 
including the more representative Friends, with varying 
sympathies, had kept straight to the advice of the Yearly 

Meeting in favor of neutrality and non-participation.’”’ 

Those who took part with the Colonies lost their birth- 
right as Friends. Owen Biddle was one of these. 
Christopher Marshall himself was another. 

In his novel, ‘‘Hugh Wynne,’’ 8. Weir Mitchell has 
told vividly the story of a young Quaker who faced the 
call of the nation about to be, decided to give his life to” 
it, and suffered accordingly. One day Hugh’s father calls 
him into the counting room, and said: 


‘Thou wilt have today a call from Friend Pembroke. 
The overseers are moved, at last, to call thee to an 
account. I have lost hope that thou wilt forsake and con- 
demn thy errors. I have worked with the overseers to 
give thee and thy friend, John Warden, time... . No 
good is yet come of it. If this private admonition be of no 
effect, thy case will come before overseers again, and thee 
wilt be dealt with as a disorderly person, recommended to 
be disowned, when thy misdeeds can be laid before the 
Quarterly Meeting for discipline. Already the Yearly 
Meeting hath found fault with us for lax dealing with such 
as thou art. Thou hast ceased to obey either thy father or 
thy God, and now my shame for thee is open to all men.”’ 


Then came the First Day in 1776 when the Monthly 
Meeting in Philadelphia took action: 


‘‘Whereas Hugh Wynne hath had his birth and edu- 
cation among Friends, and, as was believed, hath been 
convinced of that divine principle which preserves the 
followers thereof from a disposition to contend for the 
asserting of civil rights in a manner contrary to our 
peaceful professions, yet doth not manifest a disposition 
to make the Meeting a proper acknowledgment of his 
outgoing, and hath further declared his intention to con- 
tinue his wrong-doing: 

‘“‘Therefore, for the clearing of truth and our society, 
we give forth our testimony against such breaches, and 

224, 








BANK MEETING HOUSE, 1753 
From an Old Drawing 





THE BETSY ROSS PEW IN CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 





RISE AND DECLINE OF FREE QUAKERS 








can have no unity with him, the said Hugh Wynne, as a 
member of our society, until he becomes sensible of his 
deviation, and comes to a sense of his error.’’ 


Many of those who had been disowned in this manner 
bore the punishment until the close of the war. Then some 
sought restoration. ‘‘This could only be effected,’’ says 
Isaac Sharpless, ‘‘by condemning the violations for which 
disownment had been meted out to them.’’ 

One of those who found it possible to seek restoration 
in this way was Owen Biddle, who, in 1775, had begun 
military service. In 1776 he became a member of the 
Board of War, appointed by the Executive Council of 
Pennsylvania. Three of his eight associates on the Board 
also were disowned Friends. ‘‘Having wealth, learning 
and fortune, he was an important aid to the patriots 
through the whole war. James Pemberton said of him 
that he was one of those who have become weary, and 
found no rest but in returning.’’ 

Others were unwilling to change their views. Yet they 
were not ready to ally themselves with any other relig- 
ious organization. ‘‘Quakerism in every essential feature 
was so instilled into them that they took no satisfaction in 
the more elaborate forms which characterized other 
modes of formal worship.’’ 

So many of them proceeded to form ‘‘The Religious 
Society of Friends.’’ In their first minute book, in Feb- 
ruary, 1781, they spoke of the new body as Free Quakers. 

Christopher Marshall told in his Diary of attending 
a meeting of the Society on June 4, 1781: ‘‘To Monthly 
Meeting of Friends held at Samuel Wetherill’s home, 

. several weighty rules were adopted on the same 
principles that Friends first established.’’ 

Yet the principles were in many ways quite different. 
They included all that was best in Quakerism, adapted to 

15 225 


to ee ee 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ee 
the changing times. For instance, it was provided that 
no one should be disowned for any cause. If a Friend 
erred, the meeting must labor to restore him. Members 
were encouraged to perform civil and military duties for 
the defense of the country. In other ways the discipline 
allowed the largest liberty of thought and action. Irreg- 
ular marriages were not counted an offense. 

On July 6, 1781, Christopher Marshall attended a 
meeting at the home of Timothy Matlack, ‘‘to frame an 
address to the Friends of the three monthly meetings in. 
Philadelphia, in order to communicate our intents respect- 
ing our right to the use of the meeting house of this city in 
common with them, and also to the burial ground.”’ 

But the address was not even read by the meetings. 
The case was therefore appealed to the Pennsylvania 
General Assembly. For several sessions there were hear- 
ings, and for a time it looked as if the request of the Free 
Quakers for an order compelling the recognition of their 
rights would be granted. But at length it was denied, 
largely through the skillful efforts of Nicholas Waln, once 
a brilliant lawyer in Philadelphia, who had given up his 
worldly life for the peace he could find with the Friends. 

This same Nicholas Waln, nine years later, signed 
a paper to the President and to Congress protesting 
against the law providing for a militia for national 
defense, and against taxation for any such purpose. 

The only thing left to the Free Quakers was to build 
a Meeting House of their own. Land was purchased at the 
corner of Fifth and Arch Streets, and contributions for a 
building fund were solicited freely. Public sympathy was 
still with them, so contributions were generous. Among 
the donors to the building fund were Benjamin Franklin 
and George Washington. The result was the simple 

226 


RISE AND DECLINE OF FREE QUAKERS 


building which still stands on the lot. Under the gable is 
the inscription: 


By General Subscription, 
For the Free Quakers, Erected 
In the year of our Lord, 1783 
Of the Empire 8. 

What was the meaning of that last line? It was said 
that one of the Free Quakers, when asked the question, 
replied, ‘‘ I tell thee, Friend, it is because our country is 
destined to be the greatest empire over all the world.’’ 

There were perhaps one hundred members of this new 
body of Friends. Leaders among them were Christopher 
Marshall; Samuel Wetherill, who had been a minister and 
Clerk of Meeting for many years; Timothy Matlack, a 
Colonel in the Revolutionary Army and Secretary of the 
Executive Commission of Pennsylvania; Clement Biddle, 
Colonel and Quartermaster; Lydia Darragh, whose 
timely revelation of a British plot, overheard in her own 
home, saved the army of Washington at Whitemarsh 
from surprise; and Elizabeth Griscom, better known as 
Betsy Ross, who persisted in making flags for Congress, 
and was ‘‘read out of meeting,’’ thus having the expe- 
rience that came to Lydia Darragh, after her brave deed. 

For half a century meetings continued in the building 
on Arch Street. Then the membership became small. 
Betsy Ross was the last of the original company. 

Though meetings ceased in the building in 1836, the 
organization was kept alive. Yearly meetings were held, 
when the rental of the building and other receipts were 
disbursed for charitable purposes. 

But the old building still stands, bearing’ silent 
testimony to men and women whose conscientious 
bravery wrote a vital chapter in the religious history | 
of Philadelphia. 


227 





XXXIV 


THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THREE PROVINCIAL 
CHURCHES 

SO BUSY HE HAD TO BE BUSIER. ON THE WAY TO CHURCH. THE 

BEGINNING OF DEEP RUN. FROM DEEP RUN TO DOYLESTOWN. 

WHAT THE PIG DID. A LOTTERY FOR NEWTOWN CHURCH 


HE Log College and Warwick Church were not suf- 
ficient to keep Rev. William Tennent busy (see 
Chapter XXII). He was always on the lookout for 
communities that needed what he could do for them. So, 
when he learned of a little nest of farmers in Bucks 
County, six miles north of the present site of Doyles- 
town, he began making regular visits to those who would 
gather to hear him preach on the days appointed for his 
long ride of twelve miles from his home on the Neshaminy. 
The people, too, came from long distances. It1is inter- 
esting to picture the gathering of the frontier congrega- 
tion. Some of them came on horseback, and others rode in 
chairs or primitive carts. But many walked, perhaps 
earrying their Sunday shoes and stockings while they 
trudged the dusty or muddy highways in bare feet. Then, 
of course, they paused a little while before reaching the 
gathering place, that they might clothe their feet decor- 
ously before making the final stage of the journey. 
The community, too, believed in dressing up. It had 
a perfectly good name for special occasions, Bedminster, 
but the more popular title for it in the early days 
of the eighteenth century was ‘‘Mr. Tennent’s upper 
congregation.’’ 
In fact, that name was given formally to the church 
228 


THREE PROVINCIAL CHURCHES 








when it was organized in 1732, six years after Mr. Ten- 
nent began his visits to the place. Yet the dignity of its 
first building, a structure of logs, was sufficient justifica- 
tion for a distinguishing name. So the church began to 
bear, as it bears to-day, the name Deep Run. 

Mr. Tennent’s successor in the pastorate was a fit 
choice for a Scotch-Irish community. He was Rev. Fran- 
cis McHenry, an immigrant from the North of Ireland, a 
man interesting not only because of his own sturdy man- 
hood, but because of his family. With him came to 
America two brothers. One of these brothers went. to 
Baltimore; his name was later given to Fort McHenry, 
which will always be famous because the flag flying from 
its ramparts gave the inspiration to the author of ‘‘The 
Star-Spangled Banner.’’ The second brother went to a 
historic frontier fort, Fort Duquesne, and became a 
leader among the pioneers there. 

The new pastor was a hard worker. He thought 
nothing of preaching in the morning at Deep Run, 
riding to Neshaminy for the afternoon service, then 
proceeding some miles to Red Hill, or Tinicum, for the 
evening service. 

Deep Run, like Neshaminy, looked about for other 
needy places. In 1804 Doylestown was fixed on as one 
of these. For many years the pastor of Deep Run 
preached at Doylestown also. Gradually the importance 
of Deep Run decreased, because of the removal of the 
dependable Scotch-Irish to other communities, and the 
importance of Doylestown increased. Finally the day 
came when the latter community was given the primacy 
in everything but name; to this day the combined con- 
gregations bear the name ‘‘Deep Run and Doylestown.”’ 
Most of the services are held in the beautiful Bucks 

229 


ne 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








County town, but Deep Run has services sometimes in its 
building which is the third in order from the log church 
of 17382. 

The family of Rev. Uriah DuBois, who was pastor 
when the Doylestown congregation was gathered, has 
sometimes been pointed to by those who seek to oppose 
the theory held by some that ministers’ families are not 
what they should be. He had eight children. Of these’ 
one became a leading attorney in his day, three married 
ministers, one became a minister, one was an artist, while 
one became an assayer in the Mint at Philadelphia. 

During the Revolution, when both the pastor and the 
members of the congregation gave themselves loyally to 
the service of the Colonies, the pastor was Rev. James 
Grier. He was noted for the extreme gravity of his 
demeanor. Yet, strangely enough, his death was due to 
excessive laughter caused by the vain efforts of his ser- 
vant to catch a pig that had strayed from the pen! 

Because Deep Run was once a preaching point in con- 
nection with Tinicum, and because Tinicum was later 
joined to Newtown, there is a connection between Deep 
Run and Newtown, one of the oldest churches in Montgom- 
ery County, located twenty miles north of Philadelphia. 
The local historians proudly speak of the fact that a log 
building was erected before 1744. One of its early elders 
was a captain in the French and Indian War, while Gen- 
eral Francis Murray who served in the Revolution was a 
member of the church. Dr. Reading Beatty, who was the 
son of Rev. Charles C. Beatty of the famous Log Col- 
lege, entered the Revolution as a private soldier. Soon he 
became a captain. After distinguished services in many 
battles, he was a prisoner on the British ship of war 
Myrtle in New York Harbor. After his release he served 

230 


uated 
Sede 








PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEWTOWN, PENNSYLV< 
Founded 1734; Erected 1769 


<« 


te 





THREE PROVINCIAL CHURCHES 


as surgeon in a regiment of artillery until the close of 
the war. 

Among the noted families in the early days of the 
Newtown church were the McNairs, who came from the 
North of Ireland in 1725. In six generations there were 
in the family eight ministers and eight elders! Another 
notable family was named Wynkoop. Many officers of 
the church, a Speaker in the General Assembly, and an 
officer in the Revolution were supplied by this family. 

The historic building now on the church lot was 
erected in 1769. At first there was a high pulpit on the 
north side. The floor was of brick. When the building 
was remodeled in 1842 the brick floor was removed. This 
second building was used by the Hessians as quarters 
after the Battle of Trenton. Most of the original walls 
remain. These walls are odd in that two are of dressed 
stone, while two are of rough stone. 

In the early days of the church repairs were sometimes 
paid for by a lottery. <A ticket is preserved which reads: 


Newtown Presbyterian Church Lottery 
1761. No. 104. 
This ticket entitles the bearer to such prizes as may be drawn 
against the number if demanded within one month 
after the drawing is finished * * * 


Evidently the canny projectors of the lottery counted 
on the failure of many prizewinners to ask for their 
winnings! 

One reason for the resort to the lottery was the seri- 
ous blows suffered by the church during the Revolution. 
Many of the members took such an active part in the 
struggle that they were impoverished. Added to this was 
the misfortune that followed the investment of church 
funds in Continental securities. This loan was repaid in 

231 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








depreciated currency. The proceeds were stolen from 
the treasurer’s house by a much dreaded band of outlaws. 
Thus ‘‘the future hope of support of ye Gospel in the 
Congregation was at once annihilated.”’ 

But in spite of the pessimism of the ancient chron- 
icler of the misfortune, the Gospel still is preached at 
Newtown, in the building more than one hundred and 
fifty years old. 


eS a 


XXXV 


THE STORMY BEGINNINGS OF ST. PAUL’S 
HPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 
PUT OUT OF CHRIST CHURCH PULPIT. A PROTEST THAT LED TO 
A, NEW CHURCH. A BUILDING THAT WAS A MARVEL TO ALL. HE 
CALLED HIS PEOPLE REBELS. A LOYAL CHURCH AND ITS FAMOUS 
PASTORS 


when the proposition was made to organize the third 

Church of England congregation. Had not eighty 
years passed over it? Did it not contain eighteen thou- 
sand people? Very likely there were some who felt that 
the growth in that time was remarkable, and that it was 
a question if there ever would be a need in the city for 
another organization of the Church of England. 

The meeting for organization was held June 22, 1760, 
in Independence Hall—or the State House, as it was 
called then. It is said that three thousand people were 
present. Many of them were members of Christ Church, as 
well as of Presbyterian churches and Lutheran churches. 

The movement to organize a new church came in con- 
sequence of the treatment accorded Rev. William Mc- 
Clenachan, a young minister of the Church of England, 
who preached at Christ Church when on a visit to the 
city. He was so popular that he was asked to become 
assistant minister there. But in 1759 a petition against 
him was sent by many of the clergy of the Province to 
the Lord Bishop of London, finding fault with the young 
man because ‘‘his Railings and Revilings in the Pulpit,’’ 
and ‘‘his extemporaneous Prayers and Preachings were 
not agreeable to the canons.’’ The result was that the 

233 


Fe iis rdodet thought of itself as an old city 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








Bishop refused to give his consent to the arrangement 
proposed by Christ Church. 

The action of the Bishop caused a sensation. There 
were many protests. ‘‘Highteen Presbyterian clergy- 
men, then assembled in Synod in Philadelphia, May 28, 
1760, sent an unsolicited address in behalf of Mr. McClen- 
achan to his Grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, written 
probably by Rev. Gilbert Tennent,’’ says Judge Barratt. 

Four days after Mr. McClenachan was denied the fur- — 
ther use of Christ Church, the meeting for the organiza- 
tion of a new church was held in the State House. This 
was attended chiefly by those who were in sympathy with 
the spirit of the Great Revival which had been sweeping 
the country for many years, and with the preaching 
methods of those who followed Rev. George Whitefield. 

At once steps were taken to purchase ground for a 
building. To the paper were signed the names of many 
who were then, or who became, prominent in the city, 
the state, and the nation. 

Thomas Leech was a merchant, and was clerk of the 
Assembly from 1723 to 1727, and member of the body 
until 1759. He was one of the three men charged with 
the purchase of the new bell for the State House, the 
famous Independence Bell. He was buried in the new 
church. 

John Ross, son of Rev. George Ross, Rector of 
Emmanuel Church, New Castle, Delaware, was a great 
lawyer, and by many thought the chief rival to Andrew 
Hamilton. He, too, was buried in the new St. Paul’s 
Church. 

John Baynton was a member of the Assembly, and at 
the close of the French and Indian War was the dis- 
bursing officer for the fund for paying and clothing 
the troops. 

234. 


PASEO aasegees 





ST. PAUL'S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA 
Erected 1761 


THE STORMY BEGINNINGS OF ST. PAUL'S 


Plunket Fleeson was also a member of the Assembly. 
In 1776 he lent to the State £500 to raise recruits for 
the army. 

Major James Benezet was three times mayor of Phila- 
delphia, and was active during the Revolution. 

Daniel Hall was for eighteen years a partner of Ben- 
jamin Franklin, printer. 

On the ground secured was built the church building 
so familiar to Philadelphians for more than one hundred 
and sixty years. Subscriptions made were sufficient to 
build the walls, but it was decided that a lottery was 
necessary to secure further funds. The first lottery was 
so successful that a second was soon held to secure money 
to extinguish the ground rents on the lot. 

The new building was ready for use on Christmas 
Day, 1761. The building as it was then has been described 
by Judge Barratt: 

‘‘There was no basement. The outside walls were of 
brick which have since been plastered. The entrance 
gate, imported from England, was greatly admired by 
the town’s people. High back pews, like those of Christ 
Church and St. Peter’s, were installed, as was a sounding 
board over the pulpit, also an organ, in 1762, built by 
Philip Fyring. The lighting was by wax candles; it was 
the duty of the sexton to snuff them as often as they 
might require it.’’ 

The new church was the largest in the Province. Some 
thought it was too large. But within a few days one 
thousand sittings had been taken. 

Under the leadership of Mr. McClenachan, the young 
minister whose treatment had led to the organization of 
the new church, the congregation grew in numbers and 
influence. The visit of Mr. Whitefield to Philadelphia, 
when St. Paul’s welcomed him to its pulpit, added 

235 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 


to its standing in the community. For many years the 
building was crowded to the doors, by those who felt 
that the new church stood for ‘‘the Christian liberty of a 
free People,’’ of which the first rector wrote to the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury. 

There was sorrow in Mr. McClenachan’s ‘‘congrega- 
tion,’’? as Dr. William Smith of Christ Church persisted 
in calling it, when their rector had to give up his charge . 
on account of ill health. 

After his departure the first notable events came in 
connection with the Revolution. At that period Rev. 
William Stringer was in charge. Like many others of 
the colonial clergy of the Church of England, he felt the - 
necessity of adhering to his ordination vows to give per- 
petual allegiance to the King. But ‘‘the parishioners of 
St. Paul’s * * * cared nothing for the Church of 
England as a state church, and saw no inconsistency in 
using the Prayer Book, taking up arms against the King, 
and in refraining from using their prayer for the royal 
family and the King against whom they were fighting.’’ 

The break between pastor and people was postponed, 
however, until Washington was at Valley Forge, where 
many of the men of St. Paul’s were with him. On the 
Sunday after the British entered Philadelphia, Mr. 
Stringer read the lesson from Wzekiel 20:38: ‘‘I will 
purge out the rebels from among you.’’ The use of the 
word rebel was too much for many of the congregation, 
and they forced Mr. Stringer to retire. 

During the remainder of the war the church was 
dependent on supplies. But its popularity was greater 
than ever, for the patriots knew that it stood shoulder to 
shoulder with them. | 

In the century and a half since the close of the Revolu- 
tion, there have been a number of rectors who left a 

236 


THE STORMY BEGINNINGS OF ST. PAUL’S 


decided impress on the city. Among them were Rev. 
Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., Rev. Richard Newton, D.D., and 
his son, Rev. Richard Heber Newton, D.D. 

The years brought many changes. . One, much regret- 
ted by some of the people, was the reconstruction of the 
interior of the building, for the accommodation of the 
Sunday school, in 1830. The high back pews were 
removed, the sounding board was taken down, and the 
two wooden angels which had been placed on either side 
of the choir loft were removed. Fortunately St. Peter’s 
Church secured these angels as well as some other fur- 
nishings, and transferred them to their building. 

The second great change came as the old city moved 
away from the church. Gradually foreigners took the 
place of those who had supported the church. At length 
there was serious thought of disposing of the property, 
using the proceeds for diocesan purposes, and removing 
the bodies from the venerable churchyard, to West Laurel 
Hill Cemetery. Fortunately this proposition has been 
forgotten. 

But the corporation was dissolved in 1901, and the 
property was conveyed to the ‘‘Rector, Church Warden, 
and Vestrymen of St. Peter’s Church in the city of Phila- 
delphia.’’ Since that time responsibility for conducting 
services in St. Paul’s has rested with that body. 





XXXVI 


THREE CHURCHES BETWEEN PHILADELPHIA 
AND THE FALLS OF THE DELAWARE 
THE ORGANIZATION OF SAMONY CHURCH. A LARGE PARISH AND 
A SMALL SALARY. A VACATION WHICH WAS NOT A VACATION. 
THE LONG PURSE CALLED THE NEW PREACHER. ‘PATRIOTIC 
SERVICE AT BENSALEM. A SERIOUS CHARGE AT ABINGTON 
CHURCH. BECAUSE HE PREACHED IN CONNECTICUT, HE WAS. 
A VAGRANT 








Dutch. In 1677 Jan Claesen, Paerde Cooper and 
Thomas Jacobse bought 300 acres each near Bristol. 
In 1679 four Vandegrift brothers settled in Bensalem. 

The oldest branch of the Presbyterian church in the 
Colonies was the Reformed Church in America, which 
was founded by the Dutch in New Netherlands. This body 
is popularly known as the Dutch Reformed Church. 

And the oldest organization belonging to it in the 
vicinity of Philadelphia is at Churchville, in Bucks 
County, on the old Bristol Road. The presence of the 
Dutch there was due to the invitation extended to them by 
William Penn, who, during one of his visits to Holland, 
found them suffering persecution for their religion. 

Originally that church was called Neshaminy—or, as 
the records gave it, Sammony, or Shamony. Its first 
pastor was Paulus Van Vlecq, who was once a school- 
master in New York, and later was a chaplain of militia. 
A historian of the early days says that his parish 
extended from Staten Island to the Delaware River. In 
three years he preached at ten stations, married fifteen 
couples, secured eighty-three members, baptized ninety- 
three children, and was paid £501. 

For a long time the meetings were held at the houses 

238 


[ou first three landholders in Bucks County were 





REFORMED CHURCH OF NORTH AND SOUTHAMPTON 
Erected 1813 


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THREE CHURCHES 


of the members, but in 1737 plans were made for the 
erection of a building, for the use of those who lived 
in Southampton. The building was enjoyed by the 
sturdy Dutchmen of that region and their families for 
many years. 

A few years later the church took the name it bears 
to-day—North and Southampton. Under its new name 
Jonathan DuBois was called in 1749, with the under- 
standing that he was to have eight Sundays in the year to 
himself. But it would be a mistake to think of this as a 
provision for a vacation; the explanation was given that 
these Sundays were ‘‘to be employed in Bensalem; if not 
there they come again to us.”’ 

Then came Northampton’s turn to build. This new 
church, planned in 1751, had a middle block of seventy- 
two sittings for women. The men were to have ninety- 
eight seats in the rear and on either side. 

During the Revolution the church suffered by the 
absence of its men, but the women welcomed the ministra- 
tions of a minister who was driven from New Jersey by 
the British. 

Toward the close of the century it was decided to call a 
pastor on a plan that, so it was hoped, would put an end 
to disputes. The plan was stated: ‘‘The longest purse 
to get the preacher, the Menority to yeald.’’ The long 
purse called Jacob Larzalere. During his pastorate the 
two old building's were discarded for a single new build- 
ing. This was erected in 1813. And in this the congrega- 
tion descended from the original Dutch settlers has 
maintained its services for more than a century. 

Bensalem Presbyterian Church is the heir to work 
done in the neighborhood before the beginning of the 
eighteenth century. In 1697 the Swedish settlers south of 
the Neshaminy were considered a part of the congrega- 

239 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








tion of Wicacoa, Philadelphia. At first Rev. Andrew 
Rudman was sent to them from Wicacoa, but in 1698 Rev. 
Jedediah Andrews, a Presybterian minister from New 
England, rode from Philadelphia to Bensalem and con- 
ducted services there. 

In 1705 there was the nucleus of a congregation which 
looked to the Presbyterian church for supplies. Five 
years later Rev. Paulus Van Vlecq began to work. He 
succeeded in opening the first building on May 2, 1710. 
The building occupied today is the successor of that 
primitive structure, and dates from 1820. 

At first the names of elders as well as of pastor testify 
to the Dutch origin of the church. There were Hendrick 
Van Dyke, Leonard Van de Grift, Stoppel Vanzandt, and 
Nicholas Van de Grift. Gradually English names dis- 
placed many of the Dutch names, but some of them per- 
sist to this day. Several of the early ministers bore Dutch 
and Swedish names, but the succession of others began 
in 1721, when Rev. William Tennent took charge. 

During the Revolution the members of the congrega- 
tion learned how to give patriotic service, not only when 
demands were made on them for men and supplies for 
Washington’s army, but when British troops from 
Philadelphia made forays into the country while they 
were making headquarters in Philadelphia during the 
winter of 1777-1778. There they lived in comparative 
comfort, though Washington’s army was suffering 
untold hardships at Valley Forge. 

Between Philadelphia and Bensalem is Abington, 
another Presbyterian church founded in 1713, four years 
after the beginning of the work of Paulus Van Vlecq. 
There a Welshman, Rev. Malachi Jones, who was in 
charge at the inception of the church, had been preaching 
for three years. For some time the Dutch of Bensalem 

240 


THREE CHURCHES 


and of North and Southampton came to hear him, since 
they had no pastor of their own. 

Mr. Jones was a kindly pastor, but a stern man when 
there was need. It is recorded that in 1729 he joined with 
the church in bringing against a member a charge of 
being guilty: 

‘ist, of being a notorious lyer 

‘Oly, A Notorious Swerer 

“‘3ly, of cheating and Robbing whoever would give 
him any credit. 

‘‘Aly, armed himself with weapons to kill and murder 
such as would come according to law to demand there 
Rights whether in their own Person or by the King’s 


officers. 
“Bly, of running away out of ye province with other 


men’s goods. 
‘<So this man was put from amoung us.”’ 


When Mr. Jones died in 1729 he was laid in the church- 
yard. The epitaph on his gravestone has a companion 
record in the will by which he left to his wife ‘‘two rooms 
and the little cellar,’’ and directed his son Malachi to give 
her a comfortable maintenance, and to have her firewood 
cut and brought to her door, with five hogsheads of cider, 
whenever the plantation shall make so much.’’ 

The memory of the second pastor, Richard Treat, who 
spent forty-one years with the church, is kept fresh by 
the inscription on his gravestone: : 

Beneath this Marble Slab the Dust 

Of Treat, the Great, the Good, the Just, 
A Pastor, Patriot, Friend, Sincere, 
An Husband Kind, a Parent Dear. 


His Counsel Wise, His Doctrines Plain, 
To Live was Christ, to Die was Gain. 


Ten years before his death Mr. Treat was asked by 
Synod to prepare an address to His Honour, the Governor, 
16 Q41 


een nnn LC 


OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 
ee ess SS $$$ Sa—>—“waoom—,] 
and one to the Assembly of the Province, requesting them 
to “‘attempt the recovery of such captives as yet remain 
among the Indians.’’ 

Buried near by is Dr. Samuel Finley, President of the 
College of New Jersey, from 1751 to 1766. Hight years 
before he went to Princeton Dr. Finley went to preach in 
New Haven, Connecticut. There ‘‘he was seized by a 
Constable and confined.’? A few days later, he was pre- 
sented by the grand jury, and judgment was given that 
he should be carried out of the Colony as a Vagrant. The 
sentence was executed, ‘‘that he might beware of the 
repetition of such a grievous offense as preaching before 
a body not recognized by the civil authority.”’ 

Visitors to the cemetery may see also the grave of a 
woman of whom is said: 

Underneath this stone doth le 
As much of virtue as could die ; 


Which when alive did impulse give 
To as much virtue as could live. 


XXXVIT 
HOW ST. JAMES’, KINGSESSING, AND CHRIST 
CHURCH, UPPER MERION, BECAME 
HPISCOPAL ORGANIZATIONS 


FROM UPLAND TO KINGSESSING. NEAR THE HOME OF SHERIFF 
COULTAS. CHRIST CHURCH CAME FROM GUNNER RAMBO’S 
HOUSE. THE TRANSITION FROM LUTHERAN CONTROL. A FIT- 
TING ASSIGNMENT 


district of Philadelphia now known as Kingsessing. 

This record was dated at Upland (Chester), when 
Court was in session. That day the Justice took notice 
of complaints made that Court should not continue to sit 
at Upland, since it was ‘‘att ye Lower end of ye County.”’ 
The difficulty seemed to the Justice to be real, as the fur- 
ther record shows: 

‘‘The Court therefore for ye most ease of ye people 
have thought fitt for ye future to sit & meet att ye Town 
of Kingsesse in ye Schuylkills.”’ 

Highty years later this district was given fresh promi- 
nence when the rector and congregation of Wicaco 
(Gloria Dei) felt that the crowded condition of that 
church should be relieved by the organization of two other 
churches, one of them to be in Kingsessing. In 1762 a 
large lot containing three acres was secured on the south- 
eastern side of the road leading to Darby, now known as 
Woodland Avenue, near the Blue Bell Tavern. This was 
to be ‘‘for a Lutheran church, thereafter to be erected, 
and to be officiated and served in the English tongue, by 
the Swedish Episcopal Lutheran minister at Wicaco, near 
the city of Philadelphia, forever.”’ 

On this lot the cornerstone of the new church was 

Q43 


b CURIOUS record gives the first reference to the 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








laid in 1760, though the building was not complete until 
1762. This forms a part of the church now occupied, 
though the transept was not added until 1854. One of 
those who showed greatest interest in the project was 
James Coultas, High Sheriff of Philadelphia in 1758. 
He had a beautiful home, which was taken in 1923 to 
Haverford, and he was eager that the new church should 
be similar to his residence architecturally. To him is due 
in large measure the pleasing appearance of the old 
gray stone building in its setting of green. His inter- 
est was, in part, due to the fact that the new church was 
called St. James. 

The second church erected when Wicaco decided that 
provision must be made elsewhere for many of its mem- 
bers was Christ Church, in Upper Merion, at Swedes- 
burg, near Norristown. There services had been held 
as early as 1730, by Rev. Samuel Hesselius of Wicaco, 
at the house of Gunner Rambo. Later a schoolhouse was 
built on a lot provided by Rambo, and services were held 
in this. This served until 1760, when a building was pro- 
vided for the new congregation that has been well said 
to be a reminder of the church at Stratford-on-Avon, in 
England. The site chosen was on the banks of the Schuyl- 
kill, and the architecture was Gothic. Above the cruci- 
. form church rises a square tower more than fifty-five 
feet high. 

For many years the title to the properties of St. 
James’ Church and Christ Church was held by the united 
vestries of these churches and Wicaco, and the rector 
of the mother church was also in charge of the outlying 
organizations. 

It is interesting to note how these churches, which 
once were Swedish Lutheran, came to belong to the 
Protestant Episcopal communion, as well as the reason 

Q44 





ST. JAMES’ PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, KINGSESSING, PHILADELPHTA 


Erected 1762 


The Oldest Portion 


Hen 


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te lth 


iti 





WHITBY HALL, PHILADELPHIA, NOW IN HAVERFORD, PENNSYLVANIA 


O9LT Peqoo1y 
VINVATASNNGd “SSUNASHGUMS *“HONNHO TIvdOOSIda LNVISALOUd LSINHO 








DTT 





Pe 





BECAME EPISCOPAL ORGANIZATIONS 


that the change of connection came so much later than 
at Old Swedes in Wilmington, and Swedesboro, New 
Jersey. 

The first charter of the Swedish Lutheran Church of 
Wicaco, St. James at Kingsessing, and Christ Church, at 
Upper Merion, was given by John Penn in 1765. In 1787 
the Pennsylvania General Assembly enacted the follow- 
ing order. 

‘¢And whereas, it is reported to this house that the 
Swedish language is almost extinct, and in consequence 
thereof the missions for Swedes may probably cease to 
be continued, according to the ancient custom and usage, 
etc., the Church Wardens and Vestrymen shall establish 
rules and regulations for the future choice or election of a 
Rector and other minister or ministers, to supply the said 
churches, provided always that the said Rector and other 
ministers shall be in the ministry of the Lutheran Hpisco- 
pal Church, and hold their faith in the doctrine of 
the same.’’ 

Dr. Nicholas Collins was in charge of the three 
churches at the time of the action by the General Assem- 
bly. When he became rector in 1786 it was clearly under- 
stood ‘‘that the Vestry, while receiving him as their 
minister, yet at the same time, reserve to themselves the 
right of making any new appointment thereafter.’’ It was 
also understood that when he should return to Sweden 
‘¢the mission to these churches shall undoubtedly cease.”’ 

A letter from the King of Sweden received in 1789 
told of the royal assent to the proposals made by the 
congregation. 

Since the change proposed was not to take place in 
Dr. Collins’ lifetime, and since he had charge until his 
death in 1831, the church continued to be Swedish Luth- 
eran. But after his death, Protestant Episcopal rectors 
were chosen, by almost unanimous vote of the congre- 


245 





OLD CHURCHES AND MEETING HOUSES 








gation. Moreover application was made to the Legisla- 
ture to make of the united congregations three distinct 
parishes, each of which should have its own rector. 

Since 1846, by order of court, the church has belonged 
to the Protestant Episcopal communion. This arrange- 
ment seems most fitting, in view of the fact that the 
government of the Swedish Lutheran Church was Hpisco- 
pal. Further, the two communions worked together in 
Philadelphia in complete harmony, and their ministers 
exchanged services and helped each other at every 
opportunity. 


INDEX 


diet 
i, A 


‘ 
ea ean 
Peaks mus 








INDEX 








Abington, Pa., 101, 132, 240 

Abington Presbyterian Church, 240 

Acker, Henry, 161 

Adams, John, 6, 50, 51, 56, 65, 143, 
144, 157 

Agnew, Brigadier-General, 35 

Alexander, Rev. Archibald, D.D., 61 

“ Alleghenies, Wagoner of the,” 152 

Allen, John, 109; John, Jr., 109; 
William, 71, 138, 190 

Allentown, Pa., 64 

Allison, Rev. Francis, 
James, 188 

“ Along the Western Brandywine,” 
quoted, 155 

American Board of Commissioners 
for Foreign Missions, 90 

American Daily Advertiser, 65 

American Weekly Advertiser, 114 

American Weekly Mercury, 68 

Andrews, Rev. Jedediah, 40 

Anne’s, Queen, Gifts to Churches, 19, 
20, 64, 220 

Antes, Frederick, 69; Henry, 112 

Anthony Benezet School Fund, 179 

Anti-slavery Society, 13 

Apoquinimy Presbyterian Church, 
Dela., 22 

Appoquinimuk, Dela., 94 

Arbitration between Contending 
Parties in the First Baptist 
Church of Philadelphia, 89 

Armitage, Benjamin, 49 

Armstrong, Ephraim, 77 

Arnold, Benedict, 6, 201 

Arrested for Preaching the Gospel, 
39 

Asbury, Rev. Francis, 199, 200 

Atkinson, Thomas, 126 

Aubrey, Letitia Penn, 208 


D.D., 42; 


Backhouse, Rev. Richard, 214 
Bailey, Francis, 59 

Baldwin, Matthias, 44 

Ballard, Herbert T., 77 

Baltimore, Md., 229 

Baltimore Road, 153 

oe Meeting House, Philadelphia, 


Baptist Churches: First, Philadel- 
phia, 79, 84; Great Valley, 82; 
Lower Dublin, 79; Pennepek, 40, 
80, 83, 84; Southampton, 83; 
Welsh Tract, 81 

Baptist General Missionary Society 
Organized, 90 

Baptists and Presbyterians Working 
Together, 40, 84 

Baptists Assist 
Catholies, 86 

* Bar ” Church, the, 162 

Barbadoes Store, Philadelphia, 40, 
84 

Barclay, Ship of Pennsylvania Navy, 
59 


the Persecuted 


Barge, John, 188 

Barnes, Rev. Albert, D.D., 45 

Barratt, Judge, 234, 235 

Barren Hill, 186 

Barren Hill, Lutheran Church at, 37 

Bartram, John, 14 

Bartram’s Gardens, 14 

Basle, Switzerland, 196 

Basse, Gov. Jeremiah, 105 

Batton, Francis, 34; Richard, 34; 
Thomas, 34 

Bayard, John, 49, 173 

Baynton, John, 234 

Beach, Edward, 198 

Beatty, Rev. Charles, 174, 175, 176, 
230; Erkuries, 176; John, 176; 
Dr. Reading, 230 

Bebbarstown or Beggarstown, 36 

Bechtel, John, 193, 194 

Bedminster, Pa., 228 

* Beging Books for Glebe,” 190 

Bell, of Gloria Dei, Philadelphia, 
seh of Old Swedes, Wilmington, 
9 

Bell, Tom, Thief, Masquerades as a 
Minister, 106 

Bellergean, Henry, 108 

Bellman, Silencing the, 128 

Bells of Christ Church and State 
eh Bell Go to Allentown, Pa., 

Benezet, Anthony, 
112, 114 

Benezet House, 179 

Benigna, Countess, 194 

Bensalem, Pa., 220, 239 


179; Stephen, 


249 





INDEX 





Bensalem Presbyterian Sayer 239 

Berkenbeil, John, 69 

Bethlehem, Pa., 112, 115, 116, 195 

Betsy Ross, 227 

Bible, Edition of Saur, 36, 114 

Bible Printed in Welsh, 86 

Biddle, Charles J., 6; Clement, 227; 
Nicholas, 6; Owen, 224, 225 

Bidgood, William, 99 

Biles, William, 98 

Bingham, William, 3, 6 

Bjork, Rev. Eric, 95, 97, 120 

Black, William, 48 

Blackburn, James, 100 

Blackhall, Rev. John, 214 

Blair, Rev. John, 173, 211; 
Samuel, 173, 209 

Blue Bell Reformed Church, 69 

Blue Bell Tavern, Philadelphia, 243 

Boardman, Rev. George Dana, 90; 
Rev. Richard, 199 

Boehm, Rev. John Philip, 68 

Book of Discipline of Friends in 
1704, 180 

Book Suppressed, 104 

Book Titles, Long, 70, 103, 104 

Boudinot, Elias, 19 

Boyden, John, 171 

Bradford, William, 49, 156 

Brainerd, Rev. Thomas, D.D., 60 

Brandywine, Battle of, 24, 58, 59, 
116, 150, 151, 160, 169, 207, 214, 
218 

Breaking into a Church, 89 

Brewery, the Church in a, 85 

Brewster, John, 22 

Bridlington, N. J., 125 

Bristol, Pa., 98, 219, 238 

Bristol Road, 104, 219, 288 

Britannia, Privateer, 6 

Broadsides, 11, 223 

Brockden, Charles, 114 

Brown, Colonel Robert, 32; Com- 
modore Thomas, 28; William, 10 

Brown University, 87 

Brunnholz, Pastor, 139 

Bryan, George, 53 

Bryn Mawr College, 129 

Buckets for Fire Fighters, 8, 143 

Buckingham, Pa., 99 

Buckley, Phineas, 99 

Budden, Captain, and the Bells of 


250 


Rev. 


Christ Church, 64 

Burr, Rev. Aaron, 156; Aaron, Jr., 
156 

Burlington, N. J., 16, 19, 62, 105, 
125, 219 

Burlington, N. J., Meeting House, 8 

Burlington Island, 99 

Burton, Andrew, 220 

* Bush Kirche,” 162 

Business too Profitable, His, 130 

“ Buttonwood, Old,” 41 


Cadwalader, General, 65, 220 

Call, Urgent, for Minister, 156 

Calvin, John, 220 

Camp Hill, 186 

Campbell, Rev. 
Edgar, 29 

Carmichael, Rev. John, 156 

Carpenter, Samuel, 98, 150 

Carson, Rev. William, 206 

Castor, George, 196 

Catholics Assisted by the Baptists, 
86 

Center Square Meeting House, 8 

Chadd’s Ford, Pa., 151 

Chain, across the Hudson at West 
Point, Making the, 124 

Chains to Obstruct Sunday Traffic 
in Philadelphia Streets, 52 

Chalkly, Thomas, 14, 129, 167 

Chambers, Alexander, 109; 
109 

ree against a Church Member, 

] 


John, 24; Rev. 


John, 


Chartiers Academy, 210 

Chesapeake, War Vessel, 107 

Chester, 91, 145, 243 

Chester Meeting House, 146 

Chevalier, Peter, 28 

Chew, Benjamin, 6, 190 

Chichester, 93 

Chichester Meeting House, 146 

Child, James, 3 

Christ Church, Philadelphia, 1, 2, 
4, 40, 49, 62, 85, 91, 116, 186, 188, 
189, ‘197, 203, 214, 219, 233, 234, 
235, 236 

Christ Episcopal Church, Upper 
Merion, 244 

Christina, Dela., 120 

Christina, Dela., and Swedesboro, 
N. J., 29 

Church, Joseph, 99 





INDEX 








Church Hill, Pa., 185, 186 

“ Church of the Woods, The,” 162 

Church Road, 188 

Churches and Meeting Houses in 
the Revolution, 19, 22, 24, 27, 31, 
35, 36, 37, 51, 52, 57, 58, 72, 73, 
88, 97, 99, 100, 107, 110, 116, 135, 
140, 142, 143, 157, 159, 160, 169, 
186, 187, 196, 200, 201, 206, 212, 
214, 218, 220, 230, 231, 236, 239, 
240 

Churchville, Pa., 238 

Circle Line, Dela. and Pa., 146 

Claesen, Jan, 238 

Clark, Charles, 108; Captain John, 
221 

Clay, Henry, 65; Rev. Slator, 187 

Claypole, James, 178 

Clayton, Rev. Thomas, 62 

Cleayton, John, 109; William, 109 

Clinton, Christina, 174; George, 
174; De Witt, 174 

Clubb, Rev. John, 203 

*‘ Clunie,” Home of John Macpher- 
son, 6 

Cock, as a Church Symbol, 71 

College of New Jersey, 24, 106, 108, 
173, 176, 210, 211, 242 

College of Philadelphia, 190 

Collins, Rev. Nicholas, D.D., 31, 245 

Colonial Dames Remove Historic 
Church in Wilmington, Dela., 28 

Committee of Safety in Philadel- 
phia, 87 

Companius, Rev. John, 95 

Concord, Immigrant Ship, 178 

Conference, First, of Methodist 
Church in America, 200 

“Connostogo Roads, Great and 
Little,” 155 

Conrad, Dennis, 178 

Consecration of Bishop White, 5; 
of Bishop Kempe, 6; of Bishop 
Talbot, 18 

Continental Congress, First, 157 

Conyngham, Redmond, 3 

Cooch’s Bridge, Battle of, 24 

Cooper, Daniel, 181; James Feni- 
more, 19; Paerde, 238 

Cornbury, Lord, 17, 39 

Cornwallis, General, 31, 142, 166 

Cornwallis, Surrender of, Celebrated, 
88 

Corsby, William, 211 


Coryell’s Ferry, 99 

Coultas, James, 244 

Couper, Dr. James, 23 

Courtship, Stories of, 117, 183 

Cowell, Rev. David, 108 

Cowen, Henry, 215; John, 215 

Cox, James, 13; Maria, 13; Paul, 59 

Craig, James, 53; Colonel Thomas, 
60; Major Isaac, 60 

Cranbury, N. J., 110 

Crane Hook, 95 

Crawford, James, 24; Captain John, 
24 

Crosby, Thomas, 183 

Crum Creek, 52 

Custis, Eleanor, 66 


Dallas, George M., 3, 6 

Daniels, Captain John, 32 

Darlington, John, 215 

Darragh, Lydia, 227 

Davies, H., 134; Rev. Samuel, 23, 
210; William, 23 

Day, James, 93 

Dean, Joseph, 114 

Debt, Church Building Sold for, 199 

Decatur, Stephen, 6 

Declaration of Independence, 5, 27, 
56, 57, 60, 114, 116 

Delaware, 21 

Delaware, Falls of the, 98 

Delaware Island Lottery, 109 

Delinquent Subscriptions, Stirring 
up the, 33 

Denny, Gideon, 34; 
William, 34 

Discipline, Examples of Church, 210, 
241 

“ Discipline of Friends, The,” 179 

Dickinson, Rev. Moses, 106 

Dotterer, George Philip, 69 

Douglass, Archibald, 215 

Dowers, John, 198 

Doylestown, Pa., 228, 229 

Drawyers Presbyterian 
Dela., 22 

Drinker, John, 11 

Dubbendorf, Rev. Samuel, 195 

DuBois, Jonathan, 239; Rev. Uriah, 
230 

Duché, Rev. Jacob, D.D., 3, 5, 190; 
Mrs. Jacob, 5 

Duffield, Rev. George, 55, 57; Dr. 
Samuel, 58 

Dungan, Rev. Thomas, 79 


251 


Samuel, 34; 


Church, 





INDEX 











Dunkards in Germantown, 35 

Du Ponceau, Peter S., 144 

Duquesne Fort, 175, 229 

Dutch Reformed Church, 21, 78, 193, 
238 


Ebli, Jacob, 159 

Edgemont Road, 153 

Edict of Nantes, Revocation of the, 
AE | 

Edwards, Rev. Morgan, 80, 87 

Elopement, Bishop Helps in, 145 

Elton, William, 84 

Elwyn, Pa., 155 

Ely, Benjamin, 
Stiles, D.D., 61 

Emerson, James, 198 

Emlen, Samuel, 10, 15 

Emmanuel Episcopal Church, New 
Castle, Dela., 94, 234 

Empire, United States to Become an, 
227 

English or German Language in 
Church, 141 

Episcopalians and Presbyterians 
Work Together, 110, 234 

Epitaphs, 20, 38, 188, 191, 212, 241, 
242 . 

Ernest, Henry, 169 

Estaugh, Elizabeth, 1253 John, 147 

“ Evangeline,” quoted, 124 

Evans, Rev. David, 23, 131, 133; 
Edward, 114, 198; Rev. Evan, 186, 
203, 217, 219 

Ewing, Dr. John, 43 


100; Rev. Ezra 


Fage’s Manor, Pa., 173 

Fagg’s Manor Academy, 211 

Fage’s Manor Presbyterian Church, 
208 

“Fair Hill,” 183 

Falckner, Daniel, 158 

Falckner’s Swamp, 158 

Falckner’s Swamp Lutheran Church, 
158; Reformed Church, 69 

Falls of the Delaware, 98 

Falls of Schuylkill, 183 

Faris, Jacob, 25 

Farmar, Edward, 185; Major Jas- 
per, 185; John, 84, 188 

* Father of His Country,” First Use 
of Term, 59 

Finley, Rev. Samuel, D.D., 173, 242 


Q52 


First Baptist Church, Philadelphia, 
79 


First Presbyterian Church, Phila- 
delphia, 154 

First Presbyterian Church, Wil- 
mington, Dela., 28 

“ First in War, First in Peace, First 
in the Hearts of His Country- 
men,” First Use of Expression, 
144 

Fisher’s Island, 109 

Fisler, Felix, 32 

Fitch, John, and the Steamboat, 177 

Fitzgerald, Robert, 198 

Fitz Randolph, Ruth, 154 

Fleeson, Plunket, 235 

seer Rey. Christian Frederick, 

Foot-washing 
Church, 115 

Fords of Brandywine, Dangerous. 
Travel across, 147 

Forks of Brandywine Presbyterian 
Church, 155 

Forks of the Neshaminy, 171 

Fort Duquesne, 229 

Fort Washington, 187 

ae Washington Reformed Church, 
9 


in the Moravian 


Foster, Ezechiel, 32 

Fox, Catching the, 122 

Fox Chase, 189 

Foxcroft, John, 108 

Franklin, Benjamin, 11, 41, 42, 47, 
64, 77, 86, 103, 108, 114, 148, 146, 
156, 172, 175, 176, 197, 226, 235; 
Governor William, 128, 176 

Free Quakers, 222 

Friends’ Meeting Houses: Abington, 
101, 103; Arch Street, 9; Bank, 
7; Birmingham, 151; Bristol, 99; 
Buckingham, 99; Burlington, N. 
J., 8, 125; Center Square, 8; 
Center, 146; Chester, 146; Chi- 
chester, 146; Concord, 150; Darby, 
14; Germantown, 178; Great, 8, 
15; Hatboro, 101; Horsham, 13, 
101; Kennett, 146; London Grove, 
147; Merion, 165; New Garden, 
147; Pine Street, 8; Swarthmore, 
145; Wilmington, Dela., 146 

Fulton, Robert, 177 


Gemmill, Rev. John, 136 


NR 


INDEX 








General Assembly of the Presby- 
terian Church, the First, 51 

German Calvinistic Church, Frank- 
ford, Pa., 196 

German or English Language in 
Church, 141 

German Reformed Church, German- 
town, 193 

German Reformed Preaching in 
Philadelphia, 112 

Germantown, 35, 112, 178, 193 

Germantown, Battle of, 9, 36, 37, 
162, 163, 169, 186, 187, 218 

Gibbons, Rev. Hughes O., D.D., 53 

Gibson, Thomas, 211] 

Girard, Stephen, 114 

Gircher, Rev. Lawrence, 97 

Glasgow Presbyterian Church, Dela., 
23 


Gloria Dei 
137, 138 

Gloucester, N. J., 125 

Gloucester Point, N. J., 199 

Goats, a Sermon to, 133 

Godfrey, Thomas, 114 

Gown, Wearing of, in Church, 87 

Graeff, Dirck op den, 12; Abraham 
op den, 12 

Gravestones of the Friends, 126 

Gray, William, 40 . 

Great Meeting House, Philadelphia, 
8 

Great Revival, 107, 172, 234 

Great Valley, Pa., 23, 131, 132, 204 

Great Valley Baptist Church, 82 

Great Valley Presbyterian Church, 
131 

Green, Captain John, 221 

Greening, Mrs. James, 115 

Grier, Rev. James, 230 

Griffith, Thomas, 81, 82 

Griscom, Elizabeth, 227 


Haddonfield, N. J., 125, 147 

Haga, Godfrey, 117 

Hall, Daniel, 235 

Hamilton, Alexander, 45; Andrew, 
234; James, 190 

Handschuh, Rev. Johann Friedrich, 
140 

Hardby, Katherine, 149 

Hart, Abraham, 108; John, 105 

Hartsville, Pa., 171 

Harvey, Job, 134 


Church, Philadelphia, 


Hassel, Mayor, 8 

Hat, Removing the, by Quakers, 126 

Hatboro, Pa., 101, 174 

Haunted Parsonage, the, 117 

Haverford, 244 

Haverford School, 129 

Hayes, John Russell, 130, 147, 150 

Hellms, Hans, 34; John, 34 

Helm, Peter, 114 

Helmuth, Rev. Johann, 141 

Hemphill, Rev. Samuel, 42 

Hendel, Rev. William, 74 

Hendrick, Gerhard, 12 

Henry, Patrick, 170; William, 59, 
Lz 

Herman, Bernard, 138; Rev. F. F., 
74 

Herzog, Governor, of Maryland, 174 

Hesselius, Gustavus, 114; Rev. 
Samuel, 244 

Heston, Colonel Thomas, 32 

Hews, Samuel, 34 

Hicks, Elias, 184 

Hicksite Friends, 100, 184 

Hillegas, Treasurer of the Colonies, 


Hilles, Samuel, 129 

Hodge, Andrew, 49 

Holme, Thomas, Jr., 7 

Holms, John, 84 

Holy Trinity Church, Wilmington, 
Dela., 95, 189 

Homan, Andrew, 34; William, 34 

Honeybrook Township, 155 

Hood, John, 198 

Hooper, Robert Lettis, 109; Regi- 
nald, 109 

Hopkinson, Francis, 65, 146 

Horse Theft, Minister Arrested for, 
Falsely, 106 

Horse Trade of a Swedish Pastor, 
121 

Howard, Captain Vachel D., 218 

Howell, Thomas, 171 

“ Hugh Wynne,” quoted, 224 

Hughes, Rev. Griffith, 205 

Huguenots Seek Refuge in America, 
67 


Humphreys, James, 3; Rev. John, 
92, 93 

Hunt, Roger, 93 

« Sa for George Washington!”, 
3 

Hurrie, William, 60 

Hutchinson, John, 99 


253 





INDEX 








Independence Hall, 63, 141, 199, 233, 
234 

Indians’ Protest to Friends Heeded, 
151 

Ingersoll, Joseph R., 3 

Irwin, Rev. Nathaniel, 176 


Jackson, Major William, 73 

Jacobse, Thomas, 238 

Janvier, Thomas, 22 

Jenkins, Rev. Thomas, 94 

Jenkintown, Pa., 101 

Johns, Kensey, 23 

Johnson, Robert, 149 

Jones, Edward, 164; Rev. Jenkin, 
86; Rev. Malachi, 132, 240, 241; 
Robert, 204 

Jordan, John, 114, 117 

Judson, Adoniram, 90 


Kalm, Peter, 30 

Keach, Elias, 79 

Kearsley, Dr. John, 3, 63, 93, 138 

Keen, Monroe, 34 

Keith, George, 16, 85, 91, 219; 
Governor William, 13, 18, 127 

Keithian Baptists, 85 

Keithian Quakers, 85 

Keller, Henry, 161 

Keller’s Church, 162 

Kempe, Rev. Jackson, 6 

“ Kennett, Story of,” 150 

Kennett Meeting House, 146 

Keppels, Johann Heinrich, 138 

Kinders, Thomas, 178 

“ King of the Quakers,” 15 

Kingsessing, 243 

Kinnersley, Ebenezer, 86 

Kinzey, John, 127 

“Kiss of Peace” Exchanged, 115 

Klauer, George, 69 

Knox, Colonel Robert, 58 

Knyphausen, General, 142 

Kock, Jean, 121 

Kunze, Rev. J. C., 142 

Kurtz, Peter, 116 


Lafayette, Marquis de, 37, 65, 144, 
151, 171 

Lancaster, Pa., 59, 116 

Lancaster Turnpike, 165 

Land, Dr. Henry, 32 

Lane, William, 217 


254 


Langhorne, Pa., 98 

Langstaff, John, 126 

Larzalere, Jacob, 239 

Latimer, Colonel George, 60 

Lawrence, Captain James, 19; 
Thomas, 138 

Lay, Benjamin, 101 

Laying on of Hands, Dispute Con- 
cerning, 82 

Lee, Gen. Charles, 65; Gen. Henry, 
144; Gen. Robert E., 144 

Leech, Jacob, 191; Thomas, 234 

Leiper, Thomas, 52 

Lerekell, Lodwick, 159 

Lexington, Battle of, 64 

Liberty Bell, 114, 234 

Library at Hatboro, Pa., 174 

Lincoln, Abraham, 184 

Linn, Rev. John Blair, 45 

Linnard, Captain William, 59 

Lippincott, Horace Mather, 
Restore, 126 

Liquor at Public Vendues Opposed, 
210 

Little Zion Lutheran Church, 159 

Lloyd, Thomas, Visits Public 
Houses, 14 

Log College, the, 48, 106, 172, 174, 
228, 230 

Logan, James, 10, 11, 47, 150, 151, 
171, 172, 179, 181, 182; Hannah, 
128, 182 

Longfellow, Henry W., 124, 207 

Lot, Casting the, in the Moravian 
Church, 115 

Lottery, 11, 54, 63, 92, 94, 109, 190, 
2315. 286 

“Lottery of the Innocents,” 109 

Love Escapades, Condemned for, 149 

Love Stories: of John Penn and 
Maria Cox, 13; of Nils Jonson 
and Anne Amesby, 122; of Rey. 
Ericus Bjork, 122; of Rev. 
Andreas Sandel, 123; of Benjamin 
West and Elizabeth Shewell, 145; 
of James Logan, 182; of a Min- 
ister, 206; Interference with, 211 

Lower Providence Presbyterian 
Church, 78 

Ludwick, Christopher, Baker of the 
Revolution, 37 

Lutheran and Reformed Churches 
Work Together, 159 


184; 


INDEX 





Lutheran Churches: Barren Hill, 37; 
Falckner’s Swamp, 158, 168; 
Hanover, 158; Little Zion, 159; 
Old Goshenhoppen, 159; Red Hill, 
160; St. John’s, Center Square, 
162; St. John’s, Philadelphia, 
141; St. Matthew’s, Philadelphia, 
141; St. Matthew’s, Upper Dublin, 
162; St. Michael’s, Germantown, 
36; St. Michael’s, Philadelphia, 
137; St. Peter’s, Upper Pikeland, 
161; St. Peter’s, West Pikeland, 
161; Tohickon, 160; Trappe, 168; 
Zion’s, East Pikeland, 160; Zion, 
Philadelphia, 140, 144 

Lutheran Preaching in Philadel- 
phia, 112 

Luxuries Condemned by Friends, 127 

Lykens Valley, 74 

Lyon, Welsh Immigrants on Ship, 
164 


McCall, Samuel, Jr., 3 

McClenachan, Rev. William, 233 

McDonough, Commodore, 28 

McDowell, John, Dr., 55 

MacElree, Wilmer W., 155 

McGlathery, James, 59 

McHenry, Rev. Francis, 229 

McHenry, Fort, 229 

McKean, Thomas, 28, 43, 135 

McMillan, Rev. John, D.D., 210 

Macpherson, Commander John, 6 

Maidenhead, N. J., Becomes Law- 
renceville, 107 

Maidenhead Presbyterian Church, 
N. J., 105 

Makemie, Rev. Francis, 39 

Maksell, Rev. John, 30 

Man, Captain Daniel, 114 

Manatawny Road, 76 

Marcus Hook, 93 

Market Square Presbyterian Church, 
Germantown, Pa., 193 

Marriage and the Friends, 13, 148, 
180, 181; of Hannah Logan and 
John Smith, 183; Opposed, 211; 
Out of Meeting, Rebuked for, 148; 
Reasons for Francis Asbury’s Ob- 
jection to, for Himself, 202; Rules 
for, among Friends, 148; Sudden, 
after Bereavement, 206 


Marshall, Christopher, 222, 225, 226, 
227; Captain John, 60 

Martin, Governor, of North Caro- 
lina, 173 

Martin, Walter, 93 

Mary and Elizabeth, Ship, 130 

Masquerading as a Preacher, 79, 106 

Matlack, Timothy, 52, 227 

Matson, Maria, 123 

Matthews, John, 93 

Mattson, William, 34 

Meder, Rev. John, 116 

Media, Pa., 153 

Meeting House of Friends, Merion, 
164 

Menno, Simon, 35 

Mennonites and Reformed Churches 
Work Together, 160 

Mennonites in Germantown, 35 

Mercer, General Hugh, 65, 111 

Merion, Pa., 164 

Methodist Church in Philadelphia, 
197 

Methodist Episcopal Church, 197 

Meyer, Jacob, 69 

Middletown Presbyterian Church, 
153 

Mifflin, Warner, 10 

Miles, Mayor Samuel, 87 

Miller, Heinrich, 138; Henry, 114; 
John, 215; Captain Magnus, 43 

Mitchell, S. Weir, 224 

Mittelberger, Gottlieb, 140 

Montgomery, Daniel, 198; General 
Richard, 73 

Moon, John, 53; William, 217 

Moore, Mary, 149 

Mott, Lucretia, 13 

Moravians, 112 

Morgan, Rev. Abel, 86; Evan, 3 

Morris, Anthony, 85; Joshua, 10; 
Robert, 66, 156 

Mount Holly, N. J., 129 

Mount Pleasant, Home of Benedict 
Arnold, 6 

Mount Vernon, Va., 154 

Muhlenberg, Rev. Henry M., 36, 137, 
140, 158, 160, 168, 169; Rev. 
Frederick Augustus, 143, 169 

Murray, General Francis, 230 

Myers, Albert Cook, 148 

Myrtilla, Ship of Captain Budden, 
64 

Myrtle, British Prison Ship, 230 


255 





INDEX 


Nassau Hall, 173, 174 

Neff, Rudolph, 196 

Neill, Rev. Hugh, 186 

Neshaminy, Pa., 48, 98, 106, 174, 
176, 209, 228, 238 

Neshaminy Dutch Reformed Church, 
238 

Neshaminy of Warwick Presby- 
terian Church, 171, 174 

New Amstel, Dela., 21 

New Beverly, N. J., 125 

New Castle, Dela., 94, 234 

New Castle, Dela., Presbyterian 
Church, 21 

New Hanover, Pa., 137 

New Light and Old Light, 133, 134 

Newark, N. J., 156 

Newton, Rev. Richard, D.D., 237; 
Rev. Richard Heber, D.D., 237 

Newtown, Pa., 230 

Nicholson, Governor of New Jersey, 
17; John, 156 

Nixon, John, 116 

Non-juring Bishop Talbot, Conse- 
eration of, 18 

Normandie, André de, 220; John 
Abram de, 220 

Norris, Charles, 183; Isaac, 76, 179, 
183 

Norristown, Pa., 244 

Norriton Presbyterian Church, 76 


Oath, Taking of, by the Friends, 126 

Octorara Creek, 208 

Odessa, Dela., 25 

Ogontz, 178 

Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran Church, 
159 


“Old Tronsides,” Builder of, 44 

Old Swedes, Wilmington, Dela., 95, 
245 

Old York Road, 100, 102, 178 

Oratory Influences Benjamin Frank- 
lin’s Gifts, 47 

Organs in the Old Churches, 4, 37, 
116, 140, 143, 161, 169 

Organ-builder, First in the Colonies, 
114 

Orrery of David Rittenhouse, 77 

Otto, Colonel Bodo, 32; Frederick, 
34 

Owen, Griffith, 7 

Oxford, Pa., 203 


256 


Palatinate, Germans from the, 67, 
178, 193 

Parish, a Large, 238 

Parsonage, Difficulty of Securing, in 
Chester, 92 

Pastorius, Francis 
James, 178 

Pawling, Henry, 217; John, 218 

Paxton, Joseph, 109; William, 109 

Peale, Charles William, 6 

Peddler Becomes a Preacher, 174 


Daniel, 12; 


Pemberton, Israel, Jr., 15; James,’ 


15, 46, 225; John, 15, 223; 
Phineas, 98. 

Pencader Presbyterian Church, 
Dela., 23 

Penn, Christiana Gulielma, 208; 


John, 1, 13, 49, 71, 72; Letitia, 
149, 208; Richard, 14, 53, 103, 
159; Thomas, 49, 53; William, 7, 
21, 23, 62, 75, 76, 95, 98, 101, 147, 
151, 153, 154, 164, 166, 171, 176, 
178, 179, 182, 185, 203, 208, 213, 
238 

Pennington, Miles, 198, 199 

Pennsylwania Gazette, 41, 42 

Pennsylvania Hospital, 15 

Pennsylvania Journal, 92 

Perquahoma, Pa., 217 

Perquihoma Protestant Episcopal 
Church, 205 

Peters, Rev. Richard, D.D., 3, 6, 93; 
William, 6 

“ Pettycoats, Hooped,” Condemned 
by Friends, 127 

Pews, Information Concerning, 26, 
43, 215 

Philadelphia Academy, 2 

Philadelphia Baptist Association 
Organized, 88 

“ Philadelphia Steeple Lottery,” the, 
63 

Philadelphia Quakers, Beginnings 
of, 7 

Pike, Stephen, 129 

Pikeland Hills, 161 

Pikeland Lutheran Churches, 161 

Pioneer Life in the Great Valley, 
132 

“ Pike’s Arithmetic,” 129 

Pilmoor, Rev. Joseph, 199 

Pine Street Church, Philadelphia, 
55 


ee 





INDEX 








Pine Street Meeting, 8 

Pitt, “Fort, 175 

Pittsburgh, 1, 210 

Pittsburgh, Missionaries Sent to, 55 

Plattsburg, Battle of, 28 

Plumstead, William, 2, 3, 190 

Pokeberry Juice, Benjamin Lay’s 
Use of, 102 

Porter, Colonel Andrew, 156; Colo- 
nel James, 60; Commodore, 25 

Porterfield, John, 108 

Potter, General John, 156 

Poulson, Zachariah, 114 

Prayers, Objection to Extemporan- 
eous, 233; for the King, 5, 236 

Presbyterian Churches: Abington, 
240; Apoquinimy (Drawyers), 
Dela., 22, 25; Bensalem, Pa., 239; 
Deep Run, Pa., 229; Doylestown, 
Pa., 229; Drawyers, Dela., 22, 
25; Fagg’s Manor, Pa., 208; 
First, Philadelphia, 39, 131, 154; 
First, Pittsburgh, 1; Forks of 
Brandywine, Pa., 155; Frank- 
ford, Pa., 196; Glasgow, Dela., 
23; Great Valley, Pa. 131; 
Lawrenceville, N. J., 107; Lower 
Providence, Pa., 78; Maidenhead, 
N. J., 105, 110; Market Square, 
Germantown, 193; Middletown, 
Elwyn, Pa., 155; New Castle, 
Dela., 21; Newtown, Pa., 230; 
Neshaminy of Warwick, Pa., 171; 
Norriton, Pa., 76; Pencader, 
Dela., 23; Pine Street, Philadel- 
phia, 55; Second, Philadelphia, 
45, 48, 173; Third, Philadelphia, 
1, 53; Trenton, N. J., 106, 108, 
110; Wilmington, Dela., 28 


Presbyterians and Episcopalians, 
234 
Presbyterians and Episcopalians 


Work Together in Trenton, N. J., 
110 
Presbytery, First, Organized, 45 
Price, Rev. William, 97 
Princeton, Battle of, 27, 65, 107 
Princeton, N. J., 106, 242 
Princeton University, 24, 77, 173, 
174, 176 
Profiteer, He Refused to Be a, 38 
Profits, Not to Be Made by This 
Friend, 130 


17 


Protest of Friends: against Battle 
of Germantown, 9; against Ex- 
travagance and Gaming, 113 
against the Lottery, 11; against 
Slavery, 12 

Protestant Episcopal Church Or- 
ganized, 62 

Protestant Episcopal Church Re- 
ceives Swedish Lutheran Churches, 
244 

Protestant Episcopal Churches: All 
Saints’, Torresdale, 191; Chiches- 
ter, 93; Christ, Philadelphia, 1, 
2, 4, 62, 91; Christ, Upper Mer- 
ion, 244, 245; Gloria Dei, 119; 
Holy Trinity, Wilmington, 95; 
Marcus Hook, 93; New Castle, 
Dela., 94, 234; Old Swedes’, Wil- 
mington, 189; St. David’s, Rad- 
nor, 203; St. James’, Bristol, 219; 
St. James’, Kingsessing, 243; St. 
James’, Perkiomen, 205, 217; 
St. John’s, Pequea, 214; St. 
John’s, Concord, 213; St. Mary’s, 
Burlington, 16, 62, 128, 219; St. 
Michael’s, Trenton, 110; St. 
Paul’s, Chester, 91; St. Paul’s, 
Philadelphia, 233; St. Peter’s, 
Philadelphia, 1; St. Thomas’, 
Whitemarsh, 185; Trinity, Ox- 
ford, 188; Trinity, Pittsburgh, 1; 
Trinity, Swedesboro, N. J., 29 

Proud, Robert, 14 

Pun of Rev. John Talbot, 18 

Purvis, Samuel, Jr., 53 

Pusey, Caleb, 146 

Pyrlaeus, Rev. John C., 112, 113 


Radnor, Pa., 203 

Rahl, General, 111 

Raikes, Robert, 115 

Railroad, First Experimental, in 
America, 52 

Rambo, Benjamin, 34; Gunner, 244; 
John, 34 

Randolph, Peyton, 65 

Rankin, Rev. Thomas, 200 

Raritan River, 108 

Read, Charles, 182; Sarah, 182; 
Thomas Buchanan, 152 

Recruiting Troops for French and 
Indian War at Neshaminy of 
Warwick, 175 

Red Bank, Battle of, 31 

Red Hill Lutheran Church, 160 


257 





INDEX 








Redemptioners, 142 

Reed, Andrew, 109; Joseph, Jr., 109 

Reese, Edward ap, 164 

Reformed and Lutheran Churches 
Work Together, 159 

Reformed and Mennonite Churches 
Work Together, 160 

Reformed Church in America, Con- 
gregations of: Blue Bell, 69; 
Falckner Swamp, 69; First, Phila- 
delphia, 70, 75; Fort Washington, 
69; Germantown, 74; Race Street, 
73; Skippack, 69; Tulpehocken, 
69; Whitemarsh, 68 

Reformed Church in 
(Dutch), 238 

Reichart, Matthias, 159 

Reifsnyder, Sebastian, 69 

Reiff, Jacob, 70 

Religious Society of Friends (Free 
Quakers), 225 

Revell, Thomas, 105 

Revolution, Churches and Meeting 
Houses in the, 19, 22, 24, 27, 31, 
35, 36, 37, 51, 52, 57, 58, 72, 73, 
88, 97, 99, 100, 107, 110, 116, 135, 
140, 142, 143, 157, 159, 160, 169, 
186, 187, 196, 200, 201, 206, 212, 
214, 218, 220, 230, 231, 236, 239, 
240 

Rhea, John, 49 

Rhees, Morgan J., 90; R. Rush, 
M.D., 90 

Richardson, Isaac, 215 

Ridge Road, 161, 162, 217 

Ringo, Cornelius, 108 

Ringoes, N. J., 108 

Rittenhouse, David, 35, 76, 156; 
Matthias, 76; William, 35 

Rivals in Love, James Logan and 
Thomas Story, 182 

Robbery: of St. David’s Church, 
Radnor, 205; at St. John’s, 
Pequea, 215 

Roberts, Elizabeth, 191; Hugh, 166; 
John, 191 

Robinson, George, 148 

Rodgers, Rev. John, 210 

Roebuck, British Ship, 28 

Rogers, Rev. William, 88 

Rohrer, Henry, 196 

Roman Catholics Come to Philadel- 
phia, 86 

Rosbrugh, Rev. John, 111 


258 


America 


Ross, Rev. George, 94, 234; George, 
66, 94, 215; James, 60; John, 60, 
93, 234; Nathan, 60; Thomas, 100 

Rowland, Rev. John, 106, 134 

Rude Young Men Annoy Quaker 
Maidens, 8 

Rudman, Rev. Andrew, 94, 97, 240; 
Mag., 121 

Rush, Dr. Benjamin, 45, 60, 83, 88, 
90, 156, 173; Captain John, 83; 
William, 53 

Ruston, Rev. Job, 211 

Rutter, Conrad, 215; Peter, 215; 
Thomas, 85 


Sachse, Julius F., 139, 141, 204 

St. Anne’s Church, Burlington, 
N. J., Becomes St. Mary’s Church, 
1 


7 

St. David’s Church, Radnor, Pa., 203 

St. George’s Hundred, Dela., 25 

St. George’s Methodist Church, Phil- 
adelphia, 197, 199 

St. James’ Episcopal Church, King- 
sessing, 243 

St. James’ Church, 
Pequea, 214 

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Con- 
cord, Pa., 213 

St. John’s Lutheran Church, Center 
Square, Pa., 162 

St. Mary’s Church, Burlington, 
N. J., 17, 22, 62 

St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, 
Bucks County, 161 

St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, 
Germantown, 36 

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 
Trenton, N. J., 110 

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Ches- 
ter, 91 

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Phila- 
delphia, 233 

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Phila- 
delphia, 1 

St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, 185 

sgn of First Methodist Bishop, 
0 

Salem, N. J., 125 

Sammony Church, 238 

Sandel, Rev. Andreas, 121 

Sandelands, James, 91 

Sandhook, Dela., “Small Wooden 
Church ” in, 21 

Sandiford, Ralph, 104 


Episcopal 


INDEX 


Sauchickan, Falls of, 98 

Saur, Christopher, 36, 114 

Schlatter, Rev. Michael, 71 

Schlosser, George, 114 

Schmidt, Rev. Johann Frederick, 163 

Schoharie, N. Y., 67 

School Teacher’s Advertisement, 68 

Schools, Provision for, in Swedes- 
boro, N. J., 31; in Trenton, N. J., 
109 

Scott, General Winfield, 59 

Seull, Abigail, 188; John, 
Nicholas, 188 

Seckle, Johann David, 138 

Second Presbyterian Church, Phila- 
delphia, 173 

Septuagint, Translated by Charles 
Thomson, 42 

Sermon Influences Declaration of 
Independence, 56, 57 

Sharpless, Isaac, 223, 225 

Shattuck, James, 218 

Shepherd, Mary, 84 

Shettel, Robert, 10 

Shewell, Elizabeth, 145 

Shield, Immigrants in the, 16 

Shippen, Anna, 182; Mayor Edward, 
41, 156; Isaac, Jr., 181; Margaret, 
6; William, 49, 58, 156 

Shoemaker, Conrad, 34; Jacob, 179 

Short, Abraham, 24 

Shute, Attwood, 3 

Silverston, William, 84 

Simes, Rev. Snyder B., 120 

Sims, Joseph, 3 

Sir John Fagg’s Manor, 208 

“Sit Thee Down, Robert!”, 11 

* Six-Cornered Church, The,” 160 

Skippack Road, 77, 163 

Skippack Reformed Church, 69 

Skyles, John, 215; Peter, 215 

Slavery, and the Friends, 12, 178; 
and Benjamin Lay, 101 

Slaves Sold in Philadelphia, 41 

Small-pox, 195 

Smith, Daniel, 128; Elizabeth, 94, 
129; Francis Gurney, 6; John, 
128, 129; Richard, 129; Samuel, 
129; William, D.D., 2, 73, 143, 
190, 191, 236 

Snowden, Isaac, 153; John, 40, 154; 
Rev. Nathaniel, 155 

Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel, 17, 18, 41, 92, 189, 191, 
203, 206, 217, 219 


185; 


Society Hill District, Philadelphia, 
1, 53 

Society of Free Traders in London, 
21 

Society of Free Traders, Philadel- 
phia, 40 

Society of the Cincinnati, 74 

Soldiers’ Aid Society, First during 
Civil War, 135 

Songhurst, John, 7 

Sons, Advertisement of the, 109 

Southampton, Pa., 239 

Southampton Baptist Church, 83 

Southwark, 119 

Spangenburg, Bishop, 114 

Spencer, Rev. Elisha, 107, 110 

Sproat, Rev. James, 50 

Stahlop, Stina, 123 

“Stand Up for Jesus,” Author of, 
55 

** Star-Spangled Banner, The,” 229 

State House, 63, 141, 199, 233, 234 

Steamer: of Robert Fitch, 177; of 
Robert Fulton, 177 

Stedman, Alexander, 3 

Steele, General John, 59 

Steeple: of Christ Church, 63; of 
Second Presbyterian Church, 49; 
of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, 
139 

Stenton, 10, 179 

Stevens, Theophilus, 109; Theophi- 
lus, Jr., 109; Col. William, 39 

Steward, Duncan, 198 

Steyning, Manor at, 147 

Stockton, Francis B., 6; John, 106 

Stoneback, Christian, 161 

Story, Thomas, 182; Rev. William, 
195 

Stoves in Church, 25, 83, 100, 113, 
143, 156 

Stow, Charles, 114 

“ Strowling Preachers,” Act against, 
39 

Stringer, Rev. William, 236 

Sturdy, Sirach, 196 

Sunday School in the Moravian 
Church, Philadelphia, in 1744, 115 

Superintendent of Bakeries in the 
Revolution, 38 

Suppressed Book, 104 

Sutcliffe, Robert, 167 

Sydrick, Rev. Daniel, 116 


259 





INDEX 





Synod of Reformed Church Or- 
ganized, 72; Synods Held by 
Count Zinzendorf in Germantown, 
194 

Swarthmore College, 145 

Swedes in Philadelphia, 119 

Swedesboro, N. J., 29 

Swedish Lutheran Churches: St. 
James’, Kingsessing, 243; Christ, 
Upper Merion, 243, 244; Gloria 
Dei, Philadelphia, 120, 243; Old 
Swedes’, Wilmington, 95, 245; 
Swedesboro, N. J., 29 

Swedish Lutheran Churches Be- 
come Protestant Episcopal, 34, 
91, 123, 243 


Talbot, Rev. John, 16, 22, 62, 91, 
189, 219 

Tallman, James, 34 

Tannenbaum, the Organ-builder, 143 

Taylor, Bayard, 150; Dr. Joseph W., 
129; Richard, 188 

Tea Burning at Neshaminy, 176 

Tennent, Rev. Gilbert, 48, 113, 173, 
234; Rev. William, 106, 171, 172, 
173, 174, 209, 228, 240 

Theater, When the Minister Stum- 
bled into the, 117 

Third Presbyterian Church, Phila- 
delphia, 1, 53 

Thomas, John ap, 164 

Thompson, Charles, 93 

Thomson, Charles, Boyhood of, 42 

Thorne, John, 159 

Thornton, James, 10 

Tilghman, James, 51 

Tinicum, Pa., 230 

Tinicum Island, 91 

Tittermory, John, 58 

Todd, Joseph, 84 

Tohickon Creek, 161 

Toll Roads Free to Churchgoers, 96 

Tolstadius, Rev. Lars, 30 

“Too Many Men Here!”, 57 

Torresdale, Pa., 191 

Trappe, Pa., 140 

Trappe Lutheran Church, 168 

Treat, Rev. Richard, 241 

Trent Town, 173 

Trent, William, 108 

Trenton, Battle of, 27, 108, 196, 220, 
231 

Trenton, N. J., 106, 108 


260 


Trenton, N. J., Church of England 
in, 110 

Trenton, N. J., Presbyterian Church, 
106, 107 

Trimble, Alexander, 51; James, 51 

Trinity Church, Oxford, 188 

Trinity Episcopal Church, Swedes- 
boro, N. J., 29 

Truxton, Commodore, 66 

Tullytown, Pa., 80 

Tulpehocken Reformed Church, 69 

Tyng, Rev. Stephen H., D.D., 237 


Umbilicamence, 185 

United Brethren Church, 112 

University of Pennsylvania, 43, 55, 
58, 73, 77, 86, 87, 143, 156, 190, 
191, 197 

Upland, 91, 243 

Upper Dublin Lutheran Church, 162 

Ustick, Rev. Thomas, 90 


Vacation Not a Vacation, 239 

Vagrant, Preacher Arrested, as a, 
242 

Valley Forge, 24, 77, 100, 135, 157, 
161, 187, 206, 236, 240 

Van Bebber, Matthias, 36 

Van de =~<Grift, Leonard, 
Nicholas, 240 

Van Dyke, Hendrick, 240; Nicholas, 
23, 25 

Van Horn, Rev. William, 83 

Van Lear, George, 34 

Van Neaman, Isaac, 32, 34; John, 
34; George, 34 

Van Vlecq, Rev. Paul, 69, 193, 238, 
240 

Vanzandt, Stoppel, 240 

Vendues, Liquor at, Opposed, 210 


240; 


“Wagoner of the Alleghenies,” 152 

Walden, Mary, 211 

Wall Becomes a Church, 91 

Wallace, Bertram, 198 

Waln, Nicholas, 10, 226 

War and the Friends, 10, 11, 99, 127, 
151, 166, 184, 222 

Ward, Pa., 213 

Warrell, Joseph, 109; Joseph, Jr., 
109 

Wartman, Adam, 159 


en er EE TEEITEIESS SIS SISEIESSI EIS a! 


INDEX 








Warwick, Pa., 218 

Washington, American Ship, 60 

Washington, George, 3, 5, 10, 19, 
24, 50, 52, 53, 59, 65, 73, 74, 77, 
83, 100, 124, 135, 143, 151, 154, 
157, 161, 163, 166, 170, 171, 195, 
218, 220, 226, 227, 236, 240 

Washington’s Birthday, 65 

Washington and Jefferson College, 
210 

Washington, Fort, 187 

Watts, Rev. John, 40, 81, 84 

Wayne, General Anthony, 145, 205, 
206, 207 

Webb, Captain Thomas, 198 

Weiser, Conrad, 194 

Weiss, Rev. George Michael, 67 

Welcome, Penn’s Ship, 7 

Welsh, John, 3 

Welsh Tract, Dela., 23, 81 

Welsh Tract, Pa., 131, 164 

Welsh Tract Congregation, 132 

Wesley, Charles, 197, 199, 200; 
John, 197, 200 

West, Benjamin, 145 

West Jersey Society, the Honorable, 
105 

West Laurel Hill Cemetery, 237 

Wetherill, Samuel, 225, 227 

Weyberg, Rev. Casper Dietrich, 
D.Ds 73 

Wheeler, Samuel, 124 

White, Bishop William, 4, 5, 65, 
113, 146 

Whitefield, Rev. George, 46, 86, 113, 
172, 194, 197, 198, 199, 209, 234, 

Whitefield’s Oratory and Benjamin 
Franklin’s Offering, 47 

Whitemarsh Reformed Church, 68 

Whitemarsh Valley, 185, 188 

Why Isaac Norris Did Not Attend 
John Smith’s Wedding, 183 

Wicaco, 119, 243, 244 


Wife: Choosing a, by Lot, 115; Con- 
demned for Securing, Not Accord- 
ing to Rules, 149; His Second, 
206; How He Found His, 117; 
Winning a, 122, 123, 145 

Wilcocks, Alexander, 6; Benjamin 
Chew, 4; John, 3 

William and Mary, Welsh Immi- 
grants Came on, 81 

William and Sarah Reaches Phila- 
delphia With Palatinate Refugees, 
67 

William Penn Charter School, 15 

Williams, Hester, 31 

Williamson, Dr. Hugh, 43 

Willington (Wilmington), 28 

Willis, George, 20 

Willow Grove, Pa., 101 

Wilmer, Lambert, 198 

Wilmington, Dela., 28, 95, 120, 146, 
152, 189, 245 

Wilmington Meeting House, 146 

Wilson, Alexander, 124 

Winchester, Rev. Elhanan, 89 

Winkhorn, Rev. John Herman, 74 

Wissahickon, 35 

Witherspoon, Major James, 37, Rev. 
John, 37, 173 

Woodside, Lieut. John W., 59 

Woolman, John, 13, 129, 167 

Woosencroft, Rebecca, 84 

Worrell, Richard, 178 

Wright, Rev. Richard, 199 

Wynne, Thomas, 7 


Yale College, 135 

Yard, Benjamin, 109; Joseph, 108 

Yardley, Pa., 108 

Yeates, Jasper, 91 

Yellow Fever in Philadelphia, 74, 
90, 143, 195, 216 

York, Pa., 116 

York Road, 172 

Young, James, 93 


Zinzendorf, Count, 112, 113, 193, 194 











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